A series of Diana Bychkova's works, created in a documentary-artistic approach, visually interpreting Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel
The Master and Margarita.
This series is not merely a collection of book illustrations, but a visual representation of an entire epoch—capturing the spirit, tension, and layered reality behind the novel through research-informed imagery and artistic insight.
About the book:
I created a series of illustrations, book design and binding, concurrently with a short thesis in 2001-2002 as the final project for my BFA degree at the National Academy of Arts and Architecture in Kyiv. The research on the writer’s aesthetics and the word-image relationships, therefore, was part of the thesis. However, the project was reworked several times over the following 10 years.
I designed a series of 13 double-page illustrations which precede certain chapters. They are created in the technique of collage: a combination of photos of still lifes plus my ink drawings and the writer’s manuscripts.
Exhibitions and publications:
2002 – the National Guild of Artists Exhibition, Kyiv, Ukraine. The series of illustrations passed the selection and was accepted to participate in the national exhibition
2009 – exhibited at Festa del Dialogo, and published in the art catalogue of the same title, Milan, Italy.
2011 – the photos from this series were printed as a limited edition, in numbered/signed folders.
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The frontispiece reproduces some ripped pages of Bulgakov’s manuscript, a picture representing Mephistopheles which reflects a certain mood, and the writer’s photo with the following handwritten inscription over it: “This is what one looks like after dealing for several years with Aloziy Mogarych, Nikonor Ivanich, and others” (the negative characters from The Master and Margarita).
In the still life for the chapter entitled “Never talk to strangers” (where Satan meets two Soviet writers, Ivan Bezdomny and Mikhail Berlioz, in a Moscow park), a small, pale vase in the forefront represents the young and unconfident poet Ivan Bezdomny while a lemon represents Berlioz’s head that ends up severed by a tram as a result of Satan's machinations. Koroviev, a member of Satan's entourage who appears as a transparent figure and is seen by the two writers during this encounter, is made of clouded glass.
In the still life for the chapter entitled “Pontius Pilate” (one of the Jerusalem chapters), an ancient book, a spent candle, and a semi-transparent clock symbolize eternity, timelessness.
In the still life for the chapter entitled “The incident at Griboyedov” (where Satan's assistants visit the building housing the Soviet Writers' Union, and end up burning it down for being a tool of Stalinist propaganda and for rejecting the Master's novel), burning manuscripts in a cup represent the fire at the writers’ union.
A two-page illustration that contains a photo of still life (as above), my ink drawings and the writer’s manuscripts.
For the chapter entitled “Ivan is split in two” (where the aforementioned poet Ivan Bezdomny finds himself at the same psychiatric institution as the Master after having been driven mad by the encounter with Satan), the absurd situation at the hospital is placed on a plate of food: mixed salad, onions, cellophane reflections, potions, and two lemons are the symbols of the poet’s personality which has split in two as a result of his madness.
In the still life for the chapter entitled “Praise be to the Rooster!” (where Satan's female assistant almost kills the director of the Moscow Variety Theater, Satan and his entourage having put on a magic show at this theater just before this incident), bread caught in a spider’s web — old and covered with dust — symbolizes the theater in the shade of Satan's black magic. A rotten apple refers to the director’s aching head. A brightly lit onion represents the cockerel that saves the director at the last moment from Satan's emissaries by crowing and signaling the beginning of dawn.
The key point is that it is not necessary (and impossible) that the reader grasp the meanings that I gave to these compositions. Their purpose is to create a certain emotional impact on the reader which, in correlation with the text, will generate new meanings and additional levels of perception — simultaneously through verbal and visual associations.
Furthermore, the still lifes within the whole book construction aim to add a rhythmical organization to the whole. They appear at the right moments and add a certain rhythm, while the 230 small drawings interspersed among them throughout the text do not interrupt the reading process. Their role is to recreate the environment through the representation of details of everyday life, architecture, streets, landscapes, etc.
“Manuscripts do not burn”. This key phrase from the novel (uttered by the devil as he reconstitutes the Master's lost novel) has become a pithy saying known throughout the Russian cultural realm. It carries such a powerful philosophical meaning that it has taken on a life of its own — all the more so in a society which has always had a problem with freedom of expression. This is why I placed a printed fragment of still life with burning manuscripts on the book cover. The bookbinding is made from natural black leather with a relief print of fire. Images of manuscripts are also reproduced on the edges of the book.
