Nikolay Radlov

Nikolai Ernestovich Radlov was a graphic artist, painter, art historian, critic, and teacher. He was a recipient of the Stalin Prize, second degree (1942). He was born on 10 (22) March 1889 in St. Petersburg. His father was the director of the Public Library and a professor of philosophy. The Radlovs were related to the family of M. Vrubel. In 1911, he graduated from the classical division of the Faculty of History at St. Petersburg University. He studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts under D. N. Kardovsky and E. E. Lansere.

From 1912, he worked for the magazine Apollon. From 1913, he worked as a caricaturist for the magazine Satirikon; in the 1920s, for the magazines Smekhach and Begemot; and from the 1930s, for Krokodil.

In 1919–1924, he lectured at the Institute of Art History. In the 1920s and 1930s, he designed productions in Leningrad theaters.

In 1922–1937, he taught drawing at the Leningrad Academy of Arts. From 1937, he was a professor at the V. I. Surikov Moscow State Art Institute. He was an unrivaled master of caricatures of Leningrad writers, which were included in the book Imaginary Portraits (1933). He illustrated children's books by A. L. Barto, S. Ya. Marshak, S. V. Mikhalkov, and A. Volkov. His Stories in Pictures (1937) was translated into English and in 1938 received a prize at the Children's Book Exhibition in New York.

During the Great Patriotic War, he was one of the creators of “TASS Windows” and worked for the magazine Frontline Humor.

N. E. Radlov died on 29 December 1942. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery (plot no. 2).