Illustrations for Irina Pivovarova’s book Everyone Got Treats

In the Soviet Union, the culture of children’s books and magazines was subject to less ideological control and pressure from state authorities. Work as illustrators provided unofficial artists with an income and opened up a space for formal experimentation. Viktor Pivovarov, one of the founders of Moscow Conceptualism, particularly valued this modest corner of creative freedom and its “grassroots” culture: “Forgotten and abandoned, this fauna, just like in nature, becomes the fertile soil, the humus for an emerging culture. Here the contemporary artist finds an inexhaustible source of inspiration.”

In 1963, Pivovarov met his future wife, Irina, at a student party at the Yunost Hotel. As their son, artist Pavel Pepperstein, recalls: “When my parents got married, they came up with the idea of collaboration. Mom would write the poems, and Dad would make illustrations for them. It started as a romantic project based on love.” By 1964, their first joint book, Everyone Got Treats (originally named Kisel, or Starch Drink), was published by Malysh, marking Irina Pivovarova’s debut as a children’s poet.

The poem at the heart of the book tells the story of a girl who treats her friends to a dessert and, having shared everything, ends up with nothing. This simple narrative of selfless generosity is accompanied by visual imagery of animals and birds. In one illustration, two hens are depicted with pots of dessert. The composition is structured around a horizontal element dividing the space into two registers: on a branch, in profile, sits a bird with a lush tail, while beneath it another bird faces the opposite direction, creating a subtle sense of hidden movement. The figures are rendered primarily in a warm ochre palette and executed with exceptional attention to the texture of the plumage.

This experimental collaboration marked the beginning of a long‑term creative partnership. In the years that followed, the couple produced several more children’s books together, including Quiet and Resonant (Detskaya Literatura, 1967), Little Spider and the Moonlight (Malysh, 1968), Tikitak (Malysh, 1968), Once Upon a Time There Was a Dog (Detskaya Literatura, 1973), and Two Very Brave Rabbits (Sovetskaya Rossiya, 1975).