The name of Arseny Schulz may sound unfamiliar even to 20th century Russian art historians. Book illustration experts are probably the only ones who know him, provided they don’t confine their research to Russian and international classics but instead explore popular, entertainment-centred books. It’s precisely these kind of books that often feature Schulz’ commissioned works created between the second half of the 1950s and the early 1970s.
The art published here differs greatly from the aforementioned works. These are early drawings made by Schulz between 1928 and 1932 during his time at the prep department for working class youth of the Vkhutein (Higher Arts and Technical Institute), that he attended before going on to study at the Moscow Institute of Architecture. Some of these drawings are commissioned work, like drafts for book illustrations and advertisements, but most of them are sketches made by Schulz for his own pleasure as he contemplated the daily life of the city, colourful characters on the streets or simply his friends. The «language» of his drawings is something to be discussed separately. At that time in his life, Schulz hasn’t yet developed his own style and we can almost feel him scrutinizing the works of renowned artists, searching for inspiration. German expressionism played a major role in his early development, while another important influence was Frans Masereel, whom he imitated a lot after discovering his works in a book by K.Zelenina in 1930. Besides, some of his drawings reveal the influence of Sterenberg, Lebedev, Deyneka and other usually young, but already treasured artists.
