Ivan Bilibin

Ivan Bilibin was a 20th-century Russian illustrator and stage designer. Throughout his career, he was inspired by Slavic folklore.

He was born in 1876 in a suburb of St. Petersburg and travelled later to the Russian North, where he became fascinated with old wooden architecture and Russian folklore. He gained renown in 1899, when he released his illustrations of Russian fairy tales and in 1905-1910 he illustrated Pushkin's fairy tales: The Tale of Tsar Saltan and The Tale of the Golden Cockerel. His later works include stage and costume design for Russian operas and Ballets Russes. Bilibin died in 1942 during the Siege of Leningrad.