“It would be easier to name the writers whose books I have never illustrated…”

He graduated from Kyiv Art Institute with the professional artist’s certificate in 1960. Also, it was in the city on the Dnipro that he met his life partner Tamara Nekhoda, and their happy marriage has entered its 54th year. The capital of Ukraine is the place where the artist has gained recognition by creating thousands of book graphics, painting and artistic design works over his creative career.

We are sitting here in your studio, which houses many rare books that would fire up any bibliophile’s interest...

“I hope they would be also interested in the publications I illustrated when working with publishers Dnipro, Molod, Ukraiinsky Pysmennyk, and Veselka. I have more than 300 such books in my portfolio at the moment.”

Ivan Bilyk’s historical novel The Golden Ra, which you had designed, made a lot of public impact in the late 1980s...

“The book was published in 1989 by Veselka, and its full title was The Golden Ra: Herodotus’s Histories in Free Retelling; it was supplied with an afterword by famous literary critic and translator Vadym Pashchenko. The background of this publication’s illustrations is interesting as well. Bilyk called me and asked how I felt about the Scythians and what I knew about them. At the time, my research interests included the presence of Turkic-speaking tribes and peoples linked to Kyivan Rus’ in our land. When Bilyk realized that I was well-versed in all things Scythian and would suit him well as a graphic artist, he immediately offered that I illustrate his novel The Golden Ra. I created about a hundred illustrations for the work for which Bilyk received a Shevchenko Prize two years later.”

RAFAEL MASAUTOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS TO SHAMSI BASHTU’S POEM LEGEND OF SHAN’S DAUGHTER

What other Ukrainian writers’ works have you illustrated?

“After five decades spent doing book graphics, it would be easier to name the writers whose books I have never illustrated. My illustrations can be seen in books of poetry and prose authored by Taras Shevchenko, Pavlo Tychyna, Maksym Rylsky, Volodymyr Sosiura, Andrii Malyshko, Mykola Bazhan, Ivan Nekhoda, Borys Oliinyk, and Pavlo Movchan... For instance, Bazhan met me in the office he occupied as the chief editor of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia [now known as the Bazhan Ukrainian Encyclopedia Publishers. – Author] and negotiated the design of his translation of famous Georgian poet Irakli Abashidze’s poetic cycle Palestine, Palestine. Oliinyk, meanwhile, contracted me to create illustrations for his collection of poetry Echoes, published back in the 1970s. Other works of mine include Ivan Drach’s collection of poetry Protuberances of the Heart and Ivan Nekhoda’s Selected Works, both published by Molod in the 1960s. The first edition of Oles Honchar’s novel The Cathedral, which I designed, is worth mentioning as well. Incidentally, these and other publications can be seen at the Museum of Books and Publishing at the Kyiv Monastery of the Caves, which has them all in its collection. I am now going to work on illustrations for a book which is dedicated to Lesia Ukrainka. Its title will be From the Heights of the Caucasus Mountains. In Georgia, namely in Kutaisi, where the poet was long treated for tuberculosis, she wrote a number of remarkable works that have entered the heritage of the European culture as a whole. How well will I be able to implement this creative idea, only time will tell.”

I wonder why is the so-called Cuman theme so very important in your work?

“I was born in the old Tatar village of Chapurniki, now in Svetly Yar district of Russia’s Volgograd region. My lineage reaches back centuries, to Bulgar Prince Masaut Maguta who led a thousand warriors and resided in the ancient city of Chernihiv. I will say more. The presence of the Bulgar tribe in Ukraine-Rus’ as early as 300 years before the baptism of Rus’ is described in epic poem Shan Kyzy Dastan, or Legend of Shan’s Daughter, written, according to modern Turkologists, by prominent Bulgarian poet Shamsi Bashtu from 840-865. This unique work can be compared with any of the famous monuments of Ancient Ukrainian culture, like The Tale of Ihor’s Campaign or Tale of Bygone Years. Unfortunately, Legend of Shan’s Daughter is little-known in Ukraine these days, which diminishes our knowledge of Kyivan Rus’s past. The Ministry of Culture of Turkey published Bashtu’s work with my illustrations in two languages, Turkish and Russian, in the early 1990s. I hope that we will have this precious monument of literature ready for publication in Ukrainian as well. Believe me, it is worth it.”

RAFAEL MASAUTOV’S ILLUSTRATIONS TO IVAN BILYK’S HISTORICAL NOVEL THE GOLDEN RA

You are one of the few domestic illustrators to win the prestigious Vasyl Kasian Art Prize. Art critics appreciate your recent graphic series Kyiv, Paris, Istanbul. Your creative interests extend far beyond Ukraine...

“I have always seen Vasyl Kasian, Mykhailo Derehus, and Heorhii Yakutovych as undisputed authorities in the visual arts. For example, Kasian was well-known not only in Ukraine, but also in Prague, where he studied at Prague Academy of Visual Arts and exhibited his artworks in the Czech capital’s galleries in the early 1920s. I think I also was lucky to get two opportunities, thanks to contracts with the Dogan Gallery, to engage in creative work in Paris, where my favorite place was Montmartre, one of the central districts of the city. It was there that Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, and other famous French artists created their masterpieces. I plan to hold open-air sessions in Berlin, the capital of Germany, this year, as part of the activities of the European Club of Artists of Ukraine [a creative community of artists founded on Masautov’s initiative. – Author].”