Co-creator of “Winnie the Pooh” animation has died

The death of Violetta Kolesnikova, co-creator of Winnie the Pooh and renowned animator, has died according Soyuzmultfilm the animation studio. The announcement was made on Sunday March 27 on their VKontakte page.

The cause of the artist’s death has not yet been revealed.

Kolesnikova was one of the artists that brought to life many well-known characters including “Winnie the Pooh”, “The Bremen Town Musicians”, “The Return of the Prodigal Parrot” and “The Secret of the Third Planet”.

According to Soyuzmultfilm she devoted more than 30 years of her life to work at the film studio, working on more than 90 films.

A statement on the company’s page says: “We remember, we thank, we express our deepest condolences to the relatives and friends of the master.”

Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, was created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first volume was released in 1924, with follow up volumes in 1926, 1927 and 1928, (1928).

In 1961, Walt Disney Productions obtained the film and other rights of Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories from the estate of A. A. Milne and the licensing agent Stephen Slesinger, Inc., and adapted the Pooh stories, using the unhyphenated name “Winnie the Pooh”, into a series of features that would eventually become one of its most successful franchises.

Little is known about the co-creator of Winnie the Pooh, Kolesnikova. Despite her work being having achieved international acclaim, she remained largely anonymous except to her colleagues who reacted with sadness on the news that she had died.

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