Bookvica

[INDONESIAN STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE] [Illustration]

Litko, V.

Item #1839

N.p., [late 1920s]. 18x22 cm. Cardboard, ink. Some foxing and soiling.

Signed by the artist.
An original illustration for the novel “Amok” written by Belarusian children’s writer Yanka Maur (pseudonym of Ivan Michajłavič Fiodaraŭ; 1883-1971). He is known as one of the founders of Belarusian children’s literature and a creator of the first Belarusian sci-fi story and an adventure genre.
Java was the center of the Indonesian struggle against Dutch colonials. In 1926, a new uprising broke out on the island. This became the topic of the novel “Amok” (1930). Yanka Maur told children about the struggle of peoples for liberation from the yoke of colonialism.
An illustration was drawn by Soviet artist Vasily Litko (1900-1939). In 1916 he enrolled at the Petrograd Academy of Arts but quit it due to the onset of the October Revolution. He worked as an artist for the Bolshevik newspapers “Iuzhnaia Pravda” [Southern Truth] and “Soldat revoliutsii” [Soldier of the Revolution], then he was appointed commissioner of the Engineering Command Courses in Yekaterinoslav [modern Dnipro]. He took part in the Russian Civil War in Ukraine and Poland. At this time, he dealt with zincography and lithography, he made posters and sketches for ROSTA Windows and the Red Army front-line magazine “Krasnyi smel” [Red Bumblebee].
Litko graduated from the Moscow VKHUTEIN in 1924. During his study and after it, he collaborated with Moscow publishing houses OGIZ, Moskovsky Rabochii, ZIF, worked in the magazines “Metallist” [Metalworker] and “Derevoobdelachnik” [Woodworker]. In 1925-26, he worked with the newspapers “Vyatskaya Pravda” [Vyatka Truth], “Vyatskaya Derevnya” [Vyatka Village], “Iuzhnyi pakhar” [Southern Plowman]. In 1929, Litko was invited to the Belarusian State Publishing House. In particular, in this time he designed Mavr’s novels “Amok” and “Polessye Robinsons”. In all, Litko worked on numerous fiction books and posters propagating industrialization and collectivisation. Litko died tragically in 1939, after being hit by a train.

Status: On Hold