Pictures in Focus: Two East European Ex Libris of Adam and Eve

January 26, 2014

Pictures in Focus: Two East European Ex Libris of Adam and Eve

We return to the Garden of Eden in my next two new art offerings on Old Testament themes from the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection. Like last week's three images of the Temptation of Adam and Eve, both prints are the work of East European ex libris makers. In Russian Graphic Artist Oleg Yakhnin's etching of the Fall of Humanity, a beautifully patterned Serpent-Temptor dominates the lushly decorated scene, sinuously wrapped around the hips of a Rubenesque Eve. As she reaches for the apple in its mouth, Adam watches in delighted wonder, while the animals beside them have doubtful looks. Czech Artist Borivoj Borovsky shows a sketchily outlined Eve holding the apple in his etching (left) set in Eden. The pose recalls the Eve panel from a diptych of the first couple by German Renaissance Master Lucas Cranach, now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. The two new book plates can be found in the image gallery of the Eastern European Ex Libris page of the Schools of Sacred Art section. (John Kohan)