Drawing Between the Lines: Illustrating the Work of Elena Guro
Juliette
Stapanian-Apkarian
Elena Guro (1877–1913), the only woman to gain any prominence
as a Russian Futurist writer, was trained as a painter before she
began to publish her prose and poetry. Literary scholars have made
significant contributions toward our understanding of relationships of
her writing to movements in painting in the early twentieth
century. In contrast, Guro's own work as a painter has received much
less attention. Important among her activities as a visual artist was
her work as a professional illustrator. She illustrated a Russian
translation of George Sand's Tales of a Grandmother and
was invited to illustrate a piece by Aleksandr Blok. She also produced
artwork for her own writing. While scholars have noted broad features
of style or mood in this artwork or have focused on individual
illustrations, there has not yet been an in-depth analysis of her
illustrations to her own work as a vital dimension of her literary
production. Careful study of this dimension reveals an important
dialogue between Guro's verbal and visual work. Not only can her
artwork for verbal texts be shown to be less arbitrary than some have
presumed, but it also can be demonstrated to actively function in the
engagement and subversion of certain readings of her work. An
integrative view of Guro's art reveals an ongoing concern in her work
about the role of artists of the avant-garde and about the
perspectives of women in particular. In my proposed study, I will
employ inter-art and inter-textual approaches to examine the interface
between Guro's verbal and visual production. Primary focus will be
placed on her illustrations for the collection
Hurdy-Gurdy (&Shachek;armanka, 1909) and for
Autumn Dream (Osennij son, l912). Because
these works were published in her lifetime, Guro likely had
significant control over their final format. Additionally I will
consider illustrations for her collection Little Camels of the
Sky (Nebesnye verblju&zhachek;ata, l9l4),
published after her death from leukemia. References to book-design
methods in other avant-garde publications will provide further context
for the study. Slides will accompany the presentation.