Pyotr Ivanovich Bagin (born 1938) — graphic artist and book illustrator.
Born and raised in Ufa, Bagin graduated from the Leningrad Art and Graphic College in 1958 and later from the animation department of the VGIK Art Faculty (All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography).
For more than forty years, he has collaborated with the children’s magazine Murzilka. Bagin travelled extensively across the Russian North, the Altai, and the Urals, and visited Wrangel Island, recording his impressions in numerous sketches and drawings.
He has illustrated over a hundred books, including works by Yuri Koval, Sergey Kozlov, Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, and Mikhail Prishvin, as well as fairy tales by Alexander Pushkin, Russian folk tales, and poetry by Tyutchev, Fet, and Yesenin.
In 1980, the State Tretyakov Gallery acquired his illustrations for A Journey Beyond the Arctic Circle, an artist’s book that captures the landscapes and atmosphere of the Far North. In 2001, he was awarded the Silver Medal of the Russian Academy of Arts for his drawings to Russian Fairy Tales and the Irish tale The Wonderful Dream.
In 2004, Pyotr Bagin received an honorary diploma from IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People).
In Valentin Rasputin’s book, the Angara is the embodiment of untamed nature — powerful and willful, both menacing and beautiful, like an ancient goddess. For the young protagonist, the river is alive: “It stirred restlessly, heaving and sighing. At times a deep, hollow murmur rose from within, followed by a […]
