ILYA GLAZUNOV (1930-2017) Illustration for a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, possibly 'White Nights' , 1848

signed in Cyrillic 'I. Glazunov' (upper right) mixed media on paper (board ?) 90 x 60 cm Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky was Ilya Glazunov's favorite writer from his student years, with whom he had much in common in his views and outlook. The artist is often called 'Dostoevsky in painting' for his development of moral ideas consonant with the writer's philosophy. The artist and his favorite writer were equally concerned with the theme of the eternal struggle between good and evil, where the battlefield is the human heart. Despite the often tragic outcome of Dostoevsky's works, the artist called him the most optimistic author, because the writer's philosophy asserts that the human soul can find salvation through repentance, even when it reaches the extreme point of permissiveness.