Evgenii (or Yevgeny) Rachev (1906-1997) was an illustrator best known for his images of animal fables from Russian folk tales.
Postcards based on Russian folk tales, 1960, E.M. Rachev.
He used animal characters to tell his stories, but of course the allegories were really about human foibles.
He said: "If my birds and animals help you to fathom that the story is actually about people it means that I reached the same effect as the folk tales did."
He grew up with his grandparents in Siberia. According to an online bio:
"He remembered Siberia as a fantastic land. Black grouses sitting pompously on fir branches in the evenings... Fish and wild ducks swarming the lakes... No end to mushrooms and berries in summer... But when the boy was 14 years old his grandmother died. He decided to go to his mother who at that time lived in Novorosiisk. It took him three months to get there through Russia ravaged by the revolution." |
As a side hobby he collected interesting shapes of tree roots, which he sculpted into animal shapes.
His wife Lidya Ivanovna Racheva collaborated with him by compiling stories, researching costumes, and writing texts.
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