“the adventures of Cipollino” by Gianni Rodari, “the Wizard of emerald city” by Alexander Volkov, “the Mystery of the pram” Victor Dragunsky — generations of young readers familiar with these books, decorated by Victor Chizhikova. His recognizable style is loved not only in our country but also abroad.
Interest in drawing Victor Chizhikova was a child. In high school he dabbled in creating cartoons and caricatures — it worked well, so much so that it drew the attention of the artists group Kukryniksy. Master cartoonists invited the boy Vite twice a year to show them your drawings and get advice and guidance. The child has a talent that cannot be developed, they believed. And they were right.
the name of the Chizhikova occurred much later — in 1980 when the whole world saw his creation: good-natured smiling Teddy Bear that became a symbol of the XXII summer Olympic games.
the Sketch was approved three years earlier after the victory of the Victor in the contest for the best picture of a bear. The work was long and exhausting: Chizhikov told how he and his artist friends often got together, thought through the options sketched each their own. His work met all the requirements was a simple, friendly, recognizable. However, the artist forgot about the Olympic symbols. How to beat the figure, invented a little later. Said belt in the colors of Olympic rings, which he put on the bear, he was dreaming.
the emergence of the “tender Misha” at the closing ceremony of the Olympics in itself was a holiday: the eight-meter inflatable rubber doll rose above the stadium supported by balloons, waved a paw and flew away. She was able to get to Sparrow hills, where she was taken to the warehouse.
the Bear instantly became a nationwide favorite. His picture printed on postage stamps, postcards, envelopes and many other things, it did not descend from pages of magazines and Newspapers. Souvenirs with him flew like hot cakes, and probably every Soviet child received at that time a gift of a small bear.
For the bear Chizhikov received the order “badge of Honor”, Honorary badge of the Olympic Committee and a diploma of the USSR Academy of arts. A year later he was awarded the title of honored artist of the RSFSR. People’s artist of the Russian Federation he became in 2016.
At the time Chizhikova was well known as an Illustrator of books for children. He has worked in the magazines “Crocodile”, “Fun”, “Murzilka”, “Young naturalist”, “pioneer” and others. Once the cover is made Chizhikova for the latter, readers named best of the year. Since 1968 he was a member of the artists Union of the RSFSR.
to Create pictures for children’s books, he began in 1960. the First was “the Mystery of the pram” Victor�� Dragoon, who became his friend. The writer was impressed with the illustrations — vivid, cute, funny.
Viktor had maintained friendly relations with other writers, with whom he worked. His good friend was Eduard Uspensky — he did the illustrations for his books “Down the magic river”, “the Gingerbread man is on the trail”, “Fur boarding school: a cautionary tale of the girl-teacher, and her furry friends”, “Uncle Fyodor, dog and cat”, “Aunt uncle Fedor, or Escape from Buttermilk”.
in addition, Chizhikov was friends with a puppeteer Sergey Obraztsov. That somehow gave him good advice: do not scare the children horrible drawings, even if the plot character and the evil. This Council artist diligently adhered to and the terrible bogeyman to the “Doctor Dolittle” by Kornei Chukovsky presented quite touching.
More Chizhikov been drawing characters from the works of Irina Tokmakova, Sergei Mikhalkov, Alexander Volkov, Agnes Barto, Samuil Marshak, lia Geraskina, Nikolai Nosov and many others. His illustrations were known to all who read books “Ala, Classic and the letter a”, “the Wizard of oz”, “the Country has unlearned lessons”, “Victor Maleev in school and at home,” the list is very impressive.
He worked with the works of foreign writers. For example, the illustrated “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll. This work he was offered a translator Boris Zakhoder he called Chirikova and urged him to drop everything else to focus on “Alice” the other candidates he simply did not consider. Drew Chizhikov and characters of the books “Winnie-the-Pooh and all-all-all”, which is also translated Zakhoder. He also illustrated “the Tinderbox” Hans Christian Andersen and “the adventures of Cipollino” by Gianni Rodari.
Viktor and himself wrote books. For example, in collaboration with Eduard Uspensky in the mid-1980s, he created a story about friendship girl Faith and a monkey of Anfisa. And earlier this year Chizhikov participated in the exhibition in the Museum of the Russian literature named after Volodymyr Dahl, dedicated to the assumption.
On account of his more than 20 diplomas and awards, including Honorary diploma for the children’s book of Russia, the prize named after L. N. Tolstoy, the silver medal of the Russian Academy of arts, and many others. In 2016 he was awarded the title of people’s artist of the Russian Federation.
