Odisseu nos trópicos: as ilustrações de Axl Leskoschek para Dostoiévski e sua presença no Brasil (1941-1948)

Abstract

The following thesis focuses on a selection of xylography from the album Illustrations by Axl Leskoschek for Dostoevsky (1981). The artist made the illustrations for the novels The Adolescent, Demons and The Brothers Karamazov from the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), that were translated and edited by Livraria José Olympio Editora within the 1940s for the collection of Complete and Illustrated Works of Dostoevsky. Alongside to the work of reading and analysing images, this thesis also brings light to the figure of the artist Axl Leskoschek (1889-1976), who was a wood engraver that arrived in Brazil in 1941, after leaving Austria - his homeland - just after the Anschluss, the first territorial expansion movement of Nazi Germany. The artist lived in Rio de Janeiro until 1948, when he returned to Vienna. The period he spent in Rio de Janeiro was productive for his professional life. He worked as illustrator and cover designer for many publishers, including the José Olympio, and he taught both in his private studio and in the Course of Design of Propaganda and Graphic Arts at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas. He played a significant role in the development of Brazilian graphic arts, contributing to the training of young artists who later gained recognition, such as Renina Katz, Edith Behring, Ivan Serpa, and Fayga Ostrower. Thus, this doctoral research highlights part of the illustrations from the José Olympio collection made by the Austrian artist, as well as broaden knowledge about Axl Leskoschek.