GENNADY SPIRIN. The Nutcracker. Watercolor, tempera, and pencil on paper with lettered celluloid overlay. 489x330 mm; 19 1/4x13 inches, sight. Signed in ink, lower image. Title-page illustration to "The Nutcracker" by E.T.A. Hoffmann, illustrated by Spirin, New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1996. Some light buckling and rubbing to lettering of cel overlay, otherwise fine. Archivally matted and framed.
a gorgeous illustration from one of spirin's most famous illustrated books. The work was chosen as the theme of Saks Fifth Avenue's Christmas windows in 1997-98. The holiday classic was a natural subject for Spirin, who possesses a gentle demeanor and fluffy, snow-white beard and whose birthday falls on Christmas Day.
