Exhibition "Masterpieces of Gustave Dore"

The exhibition "Masterpieces of Gustave Dore" will open at the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts (103 Lenin St.). The exhibition presents the most ambitious exhibition project of the works of the outstanding French artist and graphic artist of the 19th century Gustave Dore, who remains to this day in the 21st century, the greatest illustrator of literary works.

Dore created tens of thousands of works, each of which is included in the golden fund of the world artistic heritage. And even today, in the 21st century, the scale of his genius still does not fit into any framework.

The art of illustrating books in the 19th century experienced a particularly rapid flowering. It can be argued that most of its history falls on this period. Medieval monks worked hard to illustrate the manuscripts, demonstrating their diligence, taste, skills and ingenuity. However, their goal was to decorate the book rather than illustrate the text. Moreover, such books were not available to the general public. The invention of etching, woodcut, lithography expanded the possibilities of decorating text. Even the first attempts were made in the area of what is now called book illustration.

Already in the era of Albrecht Dürer in the 16th century, the creations of writers were often illustrated with genuine masterpieces. However, the general public never had access to them. Copper engravings began to appear in expensive publications. It was they who prevailed throughout the 17th-18th centuries.

The 19th century brought the art of illustrating books to a new, hitherto unattainable level. A whole cohort of outstanding artists and graphic artists has emerged in Europe, making a name for themselves in this area. However, only one of them - Gustave Dore - had to take the top on this Olympus of glory.

Gustave Dore created a new style in art, instilled in the public a taste for it and opened new, previously unseen facets in book illustration. His engravings are captivating at first sight. The admiration they generate leaves no room for judgment.

An impressive number of works, a huge coverage of literary works, which he illustrated with his characteristic richness of imagination, the poetic beauty of some of his prints, the humor of others, and the gloomy splendor of others - all these are sources for genuine admiration that grips the viewer who has fallen under his spell.

Fertility in itself is proof of the artist’s hard work. When it is combined with sparkling imagination and technical skills that exhaust all the possibilities of art, the greatest works of art are born.

The genius of Dore found a way out in illustrations to the works of Dante, Milton, Cervantes, Tennyson, La Fontaine, Chateaubriand, L’Epin, Raspe, Perrot, Balzac, to the Old and New Testaments and to other masterpieces of world literature. Having conquered his native France, Dore’s talent crossed the borders of his native country during his lifetime. They started talking about him in the world as an artist capable of glorifying even the most ordinary romantic fable with his illustrations. Publishers lined up to be the first to get Dora’s illustrations for upcoming books.

Before him, no one had succeeded in giving an engraving such an amazing and touching degree of picturesqueness. He went beyond traditional engraving. Dora’s escaping imagination became one of the main features of his talent. Having risen to the highest level in his art, he created works filled with the power of design, originality, fantasy, style and skill.

Turning to the original source, Dora subtly and consistently follows the plot, almost literally revealing to the readers all facets of feelings, experiences, doubts, emotions and passions of the characters, cloaking them in an amazing interweaving of laces of her lines, while clearly conveying the all-encompassing world of the work itself. Dore, who never received an art education, became and remains today the greatest and unsurpassed book illustrator.

The exhibition presents illustrations for the works that brought Doré worldwide fame. Among them: "Paradise Lost" by Milton, "The Divine Comedy" by Dante, "Atala" by Chateaubriand, "Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha" by Cervantes, "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" by R. E. Raspe, Fables by La Fontaine, "The Legend of the Werewolf" L ’ Epin, "Fairy Tales" by Perrault, as well as illustrations for the Bible, made in the technique of lithography at the end of the 19th century.