Illustrations for ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ by Boris Grigoriev (PICS)

Boris Grigoriev emigrated from Russia after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, but his homeland never left him. During more than 10 years of life in France and then in the United States, he worked on his large-scale project – illustrations for the novel ‘The Brothers Karamazov’. “This is not Dostoevsky, this is Russia,” the artist once said. 

The only time the illustrations appeared in public was in 1933, at an exhibition in New York. Because of the Great Depression in the U.S., a book with drawings by Grigoriev was never published. After that, they ended up in a private collection and didn’t appear in public. 

Today, these illustrations can be seen again at the retrospective exhibition of Boris Grigoriev at the Fabergé Museum in St. Petersburg, which will last until January 28, 2024.

Here are some of those 58 illustrations. (Read a short summary of the novel here and discover more about the artist in our article here.)

Father Zosima blesses Alyosha

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

A monastery

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

Pavel Smerdyakov

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

The ‘Reeking’ Lizaveta

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

Katerina Ivanovna and Dmitri Karamazov

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

Agrafena (‘Grushenka’)

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov in his room

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov next to the window

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

Ivan Karamazov and Smerdyakov

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

The party in Mokroye

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

Jury in a court

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

Interrogation of Katerina

Courtesy of Faberge Museum

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