Original photographs of Vasilii Masiutin and his wife, Valentina Masiutina by Masiutin, Vasilii N. (Masjutin, Masyutin, 1884-1955)

[Kiev or L'viv]: ca. 1935. Two original photographic prints on card stock, measuring 14.8 × 10 and 13.6 × 8.5 cm, with photographer's stamp in Cyrillic to verso (L. Ianushevich). Very good. Original photographs of the Russian artist Vasilii Masiutin and his wife, Valentina Masiutina. Most likely taken during a visit to Ukraine in the 1930s, where Masiutin frequently exhibited his work and collaborated with local artists (which later led him to be accused by the Soviet occupant forces of entertaining ties to Ukrainian nationalists). Masiutin (1884-1955, also Masjutin), whose early work blended symbolism, the grotesque, and even surrealism, was occasionally referred to as the Russian Goya. He was active in a range of media, including lithograph and woodcut, as well as producing original drawings and paintings. After 1921, he emigrated and settled in Berlin, where he collaborated with numerous Russian emigre publishers, such as "Neva" and "Gelikon," as well as illustrating many German translations of Russian classics. While largely unknown in Russia until recently, he is now being rediscovered an increasingly the subject of exhibitions and publications.