“Koschei the Deathless”
“Koschei the Deathless” is a fantastical watercolor and ink on paper painting by the Russian Art Nouveau illustrator, Ivan Bilibin, from circa 1901. This illustration was created for the publication of Marya Morevna, or The Death of Koschei the Deathless, a Russian fairy tale. This short book with twelve pages and nine illustrations by Bilibin was published in 1901. The piece shown here depicts Koschei as he is riding his magic horse through the mountains and forests of Old Russia.
Bilibin illustrated a series of Russian folktales in his mid-20s, including this one, which gained him notoriety. In these fairy tales, Bilibin dressed his figures in traditional costume and used the mountains and forests of Old Russia for the backgrounds. He often bordered his illustrations with traditional designs and motifs.
Bilibin’s illustrations were an immediate success and jump-started his career. He was part of the greater Russian moderne movement, the Art Nouveau movement that spread through Russia in the late nineteenth to early twentieth centuries.
Marya Morevna was first transcribed by the Russian ethnographer, Alexander Afanasyev, and tells the tale of Koschei, an evil immortal being who terrorizes young women. In the story, the hero Ivan marries Marya Morevna, a warrior princess. Marya goes to war and tells her new husband not to open the dungeon door while she is away. He gets curious, as people are wont to do, and opens the dungeon door to find a starved giant chained to the wall, named Koschei. After Ivan brings water to the giant, the giant regains his magic and strength and breaks out of the dungeon.
After escaping, Koschei kidnaps Marya, and when Ivan tries to rescue his wife, Koschei kills him. Ivan’s remains are put in a barrel and thrown out to sea, but he is luckily rejuvenated by his sisters’ husbands. Once again alive, Ivan searches for Koschei. Ater hearing that he has a magic horse, Ivan visits Baba Yaga, passes her tests, and receives a magic horse of his own. Ivan rides his horse as he fights and kills Koschei. Afterwards, Ivan burns Koschei’s body and frees Marya, his wife.
The original “Koschei the Deathless” is in a private collection.
For more on Ivan Bilibin, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
