Vladimir Lebedev

Who was Vladimir Lebedev?

Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev — was a Soviet painter and graphic artist. He became famous for his exceptional illustrations of the poems of the prominent poet and translator Samuil Marshak, such as Circus, Ice Cream, Tale About a Foolish Mouse, Moustached and Striped, Book of Many Colours, Twelve Months and Luggage.

As a young boy, Lebedev started to paint postcards that were sold in a shop in Saint Petersburg. At the age of nineteen, he held his first exhibit at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1913, he began work as a cartoonist for several satirical journals, including the famed "Satirikon". At this time he was already a prolific illustrator for the children's magazines "Jackdaw", "Blue Journal", "Everyone's Journal", and "Argus". He illustrated the children's book "The Lion and the Bull" in 1917. From 1920-1922, Lebedev worked for The Russian Telegraph Agency and The Department of Agitation" designing propaganda posters. By the 1920s, Lebedev had friendly relations with many distinguished persons of his time, such as Tatlin, Ivan Puni, Kazimir Malevich, Vladimir Mayakovsky and the literary critic Nikolay Punin.