Afanas´ev, Aleksandr Nikolaevich (1826 - 1871)
Khentova, Polina Arkad´evna, artist (1896? - 1933)
Russkiia dietskiia skazki. Risunki P. A. Khentovoi. [Berlin,] Knigoizdatel´stvo 'Slovo', 1921. 332 p., b/w and color plates. €500
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8 vo, original half-linen binding designed by Polina Khentova. Pages 175-180 partually missing, supplemented with pages in facsimile, minor crack of linen on top of spine, otherwise VERY GOOD TO MINT. VERY RARE IN THIS CONDITION.

Polina Khentova had her initial artistic education in a small Yehuda Pen’s (1854–1937) studio in Vitebsk, the very same drawing school Marc Chagall attended in 1906. Khentova became a member of artistic section of Kultur-Lige after 1919. The artistic section 'promoted a 'Jewish Style' that fused leanings toward abstraction with the devices of folk art' (Myroslav Shkandrij).
She moved to Berlin and later to Paris. Iosif Gessen, the head of 'Slovo' publishing house, personally invited her to illustrate 'Detskie skazki'. She produced black and white drawings and color plates for this edition in a very short time. One thousand copies were printed altogether of this edition. Nine hundred copies were issued in soft covers and one hundred copies in half-linen binding.

Polina Khentova´s illustrations were received by Russian readership and critics with harsh criticism. She was blamed for distortion of images of Russian people and peasants and for excessive modernism in illustrating children´s book. Actually, she was critisized for the very style she developed while with Kultur-Lige artistic section. Khentova took critisim very hard and at one time had a serious health problem. There was a period at that time when her artistic productivity became very low.
She married later a British art critic and moved to Great Britain. She was very happy in her marriage and produced a number of graphic works and oils. She died after a short illness in Great Britain.
PROVENANCE: Nils Bergstrand library. Inscription on a front flyleaf in Bergstrand´s hand in pencil: 'NilsBergstrand [sic!] Lund julen 1924'.

Larger number of copies of this book remained unsold and went to a pulp mill already in the late 1920s. Smaller number of copies were read into the pulp and in many cases illustrations were mutilated by readers. Copies in half-linen binding are very rare at antiquarian market. The last copy recorded by cataloger was sold by German dealer for €500.