Farasi Aitwaye Sivka-Burka: Hadithi ya watu wa kirusi. [Sivka-Burka, the Magic Horse: Russian folk tale].: In Swahili. Translation by Omar Juma.Adaptation by M. Bulatov.

Rare.

First edition of this fairy tale with Mavrina's illustrations was issued in 1955. It was also published in English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch and Telugu.


Tatyana Lebedeva (1900/1902–1996), better known by her mother's surname, which she used as a pseudonym—Mavrina. She studied at VKhUTEMAS under Robert Falk. Mavrina was a member of 'Group 13', an association of graphic artists created in 1929. In the same year, the first children's book with her illustrations was issued. As well as some others Russian avant-garde artists, she illustrated children's books since 1930s because it was the only way to stay away from repressions during the Stalin era. After the WWII, Mavrina created her own unique and easily recognizable style — 'method, combining the traditions of Russian primitivism with the painterly quests of the first decades of the early XXth century'. Her illustrations to Russian folktales have become classics. Mavrina is the first Russian artist who won Hans Christian Andersen Awards for her illustrations of children's books (1976).
The book is from the children's collection of Inna Shmeleva (1929-2020), an artist, who studied under Ely Bielutin, the founder of The New Reality artistic academy. In 1962 Shmeleva participated in the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Union of Artist at the Central Exhibition Hall (Manège) which was severely criticized by Nikita Khrushchev. This event marked the end of the period called as the Khrushchev Thaw.


OCLC locates two copies of this edition: in the Eastern Michigan University Library and the University of South Carolina Library.