The Book Reality: Illustrator Vladimir Salnikov (1948-2015)

Moscow artist Vladimir Salnikov, who would have been 75 in 2023, had a reputation of a remarkably versatile artist known not only for his works in easel painting and graphic art but also as a book designer and illustrator. From the early 1980s he had actively worked with such major publishing houses as Khudozhestvennaya Literatura (Literary Fiction), Sovetsky Pisatel (Soviet Writer), Detskaya Literatura (Children’s Literature), Progress, Kniga (Book), Malysh (Tiny Tot), to name a few. All in all, he had designed and illustrated some twenty books by Russian and foreign authors, including Saltykov-Schedrin, Mayakovsky, Beranger, Neruda, and many more. Salnikov’s illustrations are invariably distinguished for their high craftsmanship, inventive use of the entire range of monochrome and colorful techniques, a fine sense of visual art styles, and a deep perception of the literary text.