Pivovarov, Viktor [Big and Small: Picture book]. Bolshoe i Malenkoe: Knizhka-kartinka.

Illustrations by the author.

Moskva, Detskaya literature, 1978.
8vo,[20] pp.incl.wr., ill.

In original illustrated wrappers.
Near very good condition, lightly rubbed.

First edition. Rare in such condition.

This illustrated book tells the story of an elderly man and his pets and was crafted by Viktor Pivovarov (born 1937), an artist, writer, and art theorist, who is regarded as one of the 'founding fathers' of the Moscow Conceptualist artistic movement. Pivovarov received his training under Pavel Korin at the Moscow Polygraphic Institute. During the 1960s and 1970s, Pivovarov, like many other avant-garde artists since the 1930s, created children's books as a way to avoid the repressions of the Soviet government. He worked at the Detskaya Literatura publishing house, where he crossed paths with the 'Lianozovo group' representatives, Igor Kholin and Genrikh Sapgir, and through them, Ovsei Driz and Ilya Kabakov. Pivovarov was also part of the 'Sretensky Boulevard Group', a group of avant-garde artists with neighbouring studios in Moscow that included Ilya Kabakov and Erik Bulatov. In 1982, Pivovarov moved to Prague. 
This book was part of 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 Artists at the Central Exhibition Hall (Manège), which was heavily criticized by Nikita Khrushchev. This event marked the end of the period known as the Khrushchev Thaw.

We couldn't trace any copy of this edition in the USA or European libraries via OCLC.