The “Artist’s book”: this cultural phenomenon occupies a very interesting and original place in a world art. Since the time of William Blake, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Vasily Kandinsky, artists loved to draw books by hand. For some it was a hobby, for others  it was an occupation to which the master devoted his whole life.

It is believed that the direction “Book of the Artist” appeared in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century and is associated with the work of futurists. It was the futurists who destroyed the traditional view that “the artist makes efforts only to decorate the book.” They argued that illustration and text complement and enrich each other.

American art historian Joanne Dracker calls the Artist’s book direction “the quintessence of 20th-century art forms.” Today, “The Artist’s Book” has become a synthesis uniting various artistic trends and practices. This is an area that borders on literature and art, philosophy and science, technology and genres. If in Western culture futurists, Dadaists, surrealists in the 20th century made an invaluable contribution to the development of the trend even after the traditions of ancient, medieval manuscript literature, then we also have certain national factors that contribute to the development of “home-made books”.

The Tatar people have a manuscript with a thousand-year history. The book of Hafiz Adnis Ibn Muhammadnash Muhammadna, written by him in the middle of Jumadil Ahir (May), 1554, is still kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts in Moscow. The book contains the statements  by   famous people like Gabdulnayr Sabitovich, Khusain Almukhametovich, who translated several hundred books of the Koran. The tradition of writing books by hand with a pen and decorating them continued until the second half of the 19th century. Among the unique exhibits of the exposition of the House of Tatar Books (the Museum of the History of Tatar Literature with the memorial apartment of Sh. Kamal), one can note a copy of Kul Gali’s poem “The Legend of Yusuf”, manually rewritten by the master and becoming part of a unified Turkic heritage; Rabguzi’s book “The History of the Prophets” and other works of the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate.

The exhibition “Artist’s Book”, presented at the Tatar Book House, is part of the cultural phenomenon of Russia and the contemporary world art space. The curator of the project is Valery Burov, a member of the Union of Artists of Russia, the International Cultural Fund. The hibition features 110 books stored in its unique collection. There are books from America, Europe, Russia, Tatarstan …

Among the samples of the exhibition there are books with traces of the Tatar culture. The following items attract particular attention: a book decorated by beads by R. Khuzyakhmetov “On the Persian Palace …” (2019), a book by M. Abramova about the famous embroidery artist “Flyure Kalmurzina” (2018), a book by a member of the Union of Artists of Russia G. Sokolov (Moscow) “ Horde ”(2019), books“ From Babylon to New York ”(2018) by E. Musina,“ Established and Booked ”by Yu.Akhmadieva (Mexico),“ Poems by A. Akhmatov ”(2014)

Kabirova, “Chapters” (2019) Zakhura (Pakistan), “Old Kazan” K. Surkova (2017), etc.

The idea of ​​the exhibition belongs to the author and artist Timur Khayrullin, who promotes the project “Artist’s Book” in Kazan.

THE “BOOK OF THE ARTIST” – A WORK OF ART, CREATED BY THE ARTIST AND EXECUTED BY THEM FROM BEGINNING TO END. WORKS CREATED BY THE CANONS OF CREATIVITY, NOT BY LAWS OF PRINTING HOUSES. THEY ARE COMPARABLE WITH SHIPS IN THE LASTING SEA OF MODERN ART: EACH SHIP MOVES  PEACEFULLY IN ITS OWN DIRECTION …

The exhibition will open at the Tatar Book House on January 15 at 15.00.