Vasily Kostyanitsyn — Metalworker, remember that only you can give the front the most essential helpArtist · 5 prints
Vasily Kostyanitsyn Prints
About Vasily Kostyanitsyn
Vasily Nikolaevich Kostyanitsyn (1881–1940) was a Russian and Soviet painter and graphic artist, born in Kalyazin, a small town on the Volga. He came from a family of icon painters, learned icon painting from his father and grandfather, and painted icons until the 1917 revolution. His family name may originally have been the Latvian Kostitis. He graduated from the Moscow School of Painting in 1922.
After the revolution Kostyanitsyn turned to graphic art, making posters and prints for the agitation trains that carried propaganda across the country. His posters, often signed "Kost", include Peasant! The Red Army Will Protect Your Crops from the Predators and Absentee, Stop! You Are Helping the Counter-revolution! In 1923 he was among the first members of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia, and in the 1930s he wrote essays in support of Socialist Realism. He died in Moscow in 1940.
Vasily Kostyanitsyn prints: reproductions of Soviet propaganda posters Vasily Kostyanitsyn designed in 1919 and 1920, during the Russian Civil War. Works here include Peasant! The Red Army Will Protect Your Crops from the Predators (1919), Peasant! Give Your Weapon to the Red Army Soldier (1919), Metalworker, Remember That Only You Can Give the Front the Most Essential Help (1920) and Absentee, Stop! You Are Helping the Counter-revolution! (1920).
This selection focuses on posters addressed to particular groups of people: peasants, metalworkers and absent workers, calling on them to support the Red Army and keep factories running. They combine a central figure or scene with a long Russian slogan, and each print title gives an English translation.
The strong graphics suit a study, office or hallway, and the posters work well as a group or alongside other early Soviet posters. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
