Boris MarkevitchBoris Markevich is a master of printmaking and watercolor and a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts. He was born in Kharkiv in 1925 but had lived in Moscow since the age of three, graduating from the graphic faculty of the Surikov Art Institute.
In 1962 the leading international reference Who’s Who in Graphic Art listed Boris Anisimovich among the four hundred finest graphic artists in the world—and with good reason. Just look at his 1980 illustrations for The Master and Margarita: with a few seemingly off‑hand strokes he captures mood with remarkable subtlety. These works are easily among my favorite visual interpretations of the novel.
At the hour of a hot spring sunset two citizens appeared at Patriarch’s Ponds
Berlioz passionately proves to the devil that he does not exist, while the devil phlegmatically smokes a papirosa
Portraits of the biblical figures: Pontius Pilate
And this, apparently, is Caiaphas
Matthew Levi
Judas
The sixth proof
Ivan’s chase after the foreign consultant
Ivan in Dr. Stravinsky’s clinic
Composing a statement to the police: “...we came to Patriarch’s together with the late Berlioz...”
He writes no more
Meanwhile Stepa Likhodeev wakes up
And in no time at all is sent off to Yalta
...from where he will send telegrams to the Variety
Fagott explains to Nikanor Ivanovich the profit to be made from a deal with an artiste
Nikanor Ivanovich hides the money in a ventilator shaft
Ivanushka is visited by the neighbor from ward 118
The Master and Margarita
The Master burns his novel
A séance of black magic with the unmasking of Sempleyarov. Behind Arkady Apollonovich stand his wife and his mistress
And now Sempleyarov gets a call from the GPU about the scandalous show
Hella peers through Rimsky’s window
The Variety’s buffet manager Sokov is greeted by the foreigner’s maid
An empty suit and the beautiful Anna Richardovna
A visit from Berlioz’s uncle. Fagott weeps: “Crunch—right in two!” Behemoth casts an upward glance
Berlioz’s funeral
Azazello’s cream
Margarita flies to the ball
Then pauses by the riverbank before the festivities
At the ball
The death of Baron Maigel: Behemoth, wielding two pistols, insists he shoots no worse than Azazello
Supper after the ball. Woland is once again smoking a papirosa
The Master’s return
Annushka
Behemoth has been shot; only a swallow of gasoline can save him now
One swallow does the trick—Behemoth and Fagott wander the city
...ramble into a Torgsin
And then to Griboedov’s
Azazello offers the Master and Margarita Falernian wine
Woland contemplates the shadow of his rapier
The Master bids Moscow farewell
A farewell to Ivanushka
Pontius Pilate on the mountain plateau
