Vadim Brodsky (Russian, b. 1945) - Snow Queen, 198

Updated September 18, 2026

An evocative signed original wood engraving, or xylograph, by accomplished Russian graphic artist Vadim Valentinovich Brodsky (b. 1945), titled Snow Queen and dating to 1989. Executed during the final years of the Soviet period, this finely conceived small-format print presents a dreamlike assemblage of animal, avian and botanical imagery emerging dramatically from a dense black ground. A central long-snouted animal figure is surrounded by birds, plant forms and enigmatic organic motifs, creating an imaginative, almost folkloric visual world in which narrative remains deliberately suggestive rather than literal. Brodsky achieves remarkable presence at an intimate scale through the fundamental strengths of wood engraving: incisive carved line, brilliant contrasts of black and white, rhythmic mark-making and the expressive use of negative space.<br><br>The composition is independently documented as Brodsky's Snow Queen, a 1989 xylograph, with the image recorded at approximately 10 x 8 cm and the original sheet at approximately 24 x 20 cm; the documented example is likewise noted as signed at lower right. The present impression bears Brodsky's characteristic pencil signature beneath the image at lower right.<br><br>Brodsky was born in Leningrad in 1945 and received rigorous academic training in the Graphic Art Faculty of the Repin Institute from 1964 to 1970 under Mikhail Taranov. He exhibited from 1971 and became a member of the USSR Union of Artists in 1975. Of particular relevance to the present work, Brodsky worked for more than two decades at the Experimental Printing Studio of the Leningrad Branch of the RSFSR Art Fund and, from 1976 to 1991, as an artist for the important Soviet publishing house Detskaya Literatura, or Children's Literature. His practice encompasses easel graphics, book illustration, painting and original printmaking, placing Snow Queen squarely within the sophisticated tradition of late Soviet Leningrad graphic art.<br><br>Brodsky's work is represented in notable institutional collections including the State Russian Museum and National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg, the British Library in London, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the German National Library and Jyväskylä Art Museum, among others. This institutional representation provides meaningful art-historical context for an artist whose original prints remain comparatively accessible in the international secondary market.<br><br>Compact, visually arresting and unmistakably rooted in the distinguished Russian tradition of artist printmaking and book graphics, Snow Queen offers particular appeal to collectors of Soviet Russian art, Leningrad School graphics, original wood engravings, xylographs, literary and fairy-tale imagery, Russian book illustration, signed artist prints and works by Vadim Brodsky.<br><br>Mat dimensions: 15 x 12 1/2 inches.<br><br>Condition: Presented within a professionally cut double mat. The visible engraving appears clean

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