Lubok

ルボーク / 17th–19th century / Style / Popular Prints

Russia's popular print: thick outlines, flat hand-coloring, image and text sharing the sheet, circulating sacred stories and satire cheaply. The avant-garde rediscovered it in the 20th century as Russia's native form.

Lubok — The Mice Are Burying the Cat, 18th century — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — The Mice Are Burying the Cat, 18th century — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Lubok — Lubok of Adam and Eve — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Lubok of Adam and Eve — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Lubok — Baba Yaga Riding a Pig and the Crocodile, lubok — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Baba Yaga Riding a Pig and the Crocodile, lubok — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

Thick outlines
Flat hand-coloring
Image and text together
Satire and story

Best used for

Picture books and packaging where a told story shares the sheet with words
Editorial illustration carrying satire in a deliberately plain voice

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Dictionary entry

Type: Hand-written text poured around the picture and framed as one unit
Composition: Drop perspective, range the figures across, fill the rest with words
Material: Thick woodcut outlines with red, yellow and green washed past the line
Caution: Tidying the outline and keeping the color inside it removes the misregistration and rough hand that carried the warmth of a popular print.
Further study: Rovinskii's collection / its influence on Neo-primitivism / Larionov and Goncharova

Related entries

ROSTA Windows (ロスタの窓)Editorially linked for a useful contrast.Compare Lubok and ROSTA Windows
Épinal Print (エピナル版画)Same Popular Prints lineage.Compare Lubok and Épinal Print

Often confused with

Épinal Print (エピナル版画)compare

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