US Library Of Congress Acquires Collection With Rare Kandinsky, Chagall, Goya Masterpieces

The US Library of Congress recently acquired masterpieces by Russian artists such as Wassily Kandinsky as part of the Aramont Library of rare albums, collection curator Stephanie Stillo told Sputnik

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2021) The US Library of Congress recently acquired masterpieces by Russian artists such as Wassily Kandinsky as part of the Aramont Library of rare albums, collection curator Stephanie Stillo told Sputnik.

According to Stephanie Stillo, curator of the Aramont Library at the Library of Congress, there are several examples of Russian and Slavic painters that offered illustrations for experimental livres - d'artiste - books with original art by prominent artists - during the early to mid-20th century.

The collection also includes Marc Chagall's wood cut illustrations to his poetry "Poemes" published in Geneva in the late 1960s, along with Kandinsky's drypoint print for Rene Char's "Le Marteau Sans Maitre," she added.

The Aramont Library also holds several books released by influential Russian art publisher, Ilya Zdanevitch, as well as illustrations of Polish avant-guard painter Stefan Gierlowski for Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Une Femme Douce," published in Paris in 1927.

The most valuable masterpieces in the collection include prints composed by Spanish painter and graphic artist of the Baroque period Francisco Goya.

Goya's two most famous series, both in the Aramont Library, are "Los Caprichos" (1799), a visual critique of the hypocrisy and foolishness of the Spanish Royal Court, and "Los Desastres de la Guerra" (1810-20), published posthumously in 1863, a graphic and disturbing expose about the horrors of the Peninsular War, Stillo said.

The Aramont collection was donated to the Library of Congress by a benefactor who decided to remain anonymous. The collection was in private hands for over 40 years and contains 1,700 books, according to the library.