The Bookplates of Vladimir Vereschagin I

The Bookplates of Vladimir Vereschagin

By Veniamin Khudoley
(1945-2007)

Translated from Russian by Ilya Libenzon


Perestroika in Russia broke the stagnation of society in Russia, in all fields of life, including the fine arts, and also enabled the number of extraordinarily thinking and feeling artists to emerge. One of the artists is Vladimir Vereschagin whose work had been appreciated in the West long before perestroika began, a typical situation for artists in the Soviet Union. Vereschagin is a well-recognized master of the graphic arts, and one who largely determined the face of the modern Russian bookplate. He is the first among the Leningrad bookplate artists who participated in the XXIII FISAE Congress in Mönchen-gladbach, Germany, where he introduced the unique world of modern St.Petersburg exlibris. Vereschagin is also the first Russian to be included in the Bibliographical Encyclopedia of Contemporary Exlibris.

Vladimir Vereschagin was born in 1949, in Onega, situated in the northern part of Russia, in Archangel province, on the White Sea. In 1951 the family relocated to Leningrad, now St. Petersburg. He has been drawing since childhood. He graduated from V.E. Mukhin Industrial-Art School in 1972. He is a member of the Union of Russian Artists. Now Vladimir lives in the historical suburban district of St. Petersburg--Tsarskoje Selo.

The artist’s first exlibris was made in 1975 and since then he has created some 300 bookplates. Vladimir is a member of the ASBC&D and he has participated in many international exlibris and graphic exhibitions and competitions. He has won international prizes and awards in Italy (1989), Czech Republic(1990), France(1994), Russia (2000), Germany (2003), Greece (2005); and the International Exlibris Centrum, Sint-Niklaas, Belgium (1987, 1988, 1993).