"Paintings and Drawings" by Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin, set of 12 postcards in a folder published by “Soviet Artist,” Leningrad, 1969.

Standard size: 6" x 4" [150mm x 105mm]; the folder shows soiling and wear [see photo], two cards have a small corner bent, one card has a small blank edge bent [see photos]; very good condition, suitable for scrap-booking or framing.

Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939) was a Russian and Soviet painter. His early iconographic work used special creative effects based on the curve of the globe. From 1924 to 1926 Petrov-Vodkin lived in France with his family. In 1922 he painted a portrait of the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova.

During his earlier years, Petrov-Vodkin developed his "spherical perspective": a unique twist that distorted the drawing as to represent the viewer high enough to actually notice the spherical curve of the globe. He used it extensively through his works like Death of a Commissar and In the Line of Fire, which make the observer seem more distant, but actually close. It is argued that this twist has been built upon Byzantine perspective - an inverted perspective used in iconography.

Until the mid-1960s, Petrov-Vodkin was nearly forgotten in the Soviet Union after his curtailment of painting and turn towards writing. The largest collection of Petrov-Vodkin's works is in the Russian Museum in St Petersburg, where, as of 2012, a whole room in the permanent exhibition is devoted to the painter. A memorial museum was also set up to Petrov-Vodkin in the house he built for his parents in his home town of Khvalynsk.

US: 1st Class (c.2-6 days) ------------- $6.50
Canada: 1st Class (c.2-7 weeks) ----- $16.50
World: 1st Class (c.2-10 weeks) ----- $22.50