Viktor Deni

Viktor Deni
Russian: Виктор Николаевич Денисов
Viktor Deni in 1933
Born	Viktor Nikolaevich Denisov (1893-03-08)8 March 1893 Moscow, Russian Empire
Died	3 August 1946(1946-08-03) (aged 53) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Nationality	Russian (1893–1917) Soviet (1917–1946)

Viktor Nikolaevich Denisov (Russian: Виктор Николаевич Денисов; March 8, 1893 – August 3, 1946),^[1] best known by the shortened pseudonym Viktor Deni, was a Russian and Soviet satirist, cartoonist and poster artist. Deni was one of the major agitprop poster artists of the Bolshevist period (1917–1921).

His art is held in the collections of the Tate Modern.^[2]

Biography

"Comrade Lenin cleans the Earth from scum", 1920

Born in Moscow in 1893, Denisov later shortened his surname to Deni.^[3] Deni moved to St. Petersburg in 1913 where he established himself as a successful caricaturist, his caricatures appearing in a number of illustrated satirical journals.^[3] After the October Revolution Deni worked for the Litizdat (the state publishing house),^[3] an agency founded in June 1919 to coordinate the various publishing centres on behalf of the Bolsheviks. He produced nearly 50 political posters during the Russian Civil War, including some of his most well known satirical work.^[3] He became one of the major agitprop poster artists of the Bolshevist period (1917–1921).^[3] Deni subsequently focused on producing newspaper cartoons that addressed foreign policy issues.^[3]

Deni taught poster artist Nina Vatolina from 1935 until 1939; Vatolina married his son, Nikolai, in 1934.^[4]

During the German–Soviet War (World War II), he returned to the medium of the political poster together with several other prominent poster artists of the Civil War such as Mikhail Cheremnykh and Dmitry Moor.^[5]

See also

• List of Soviet poster artists

References

1. Биография Дени Виктора Николаевича Archived October 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Great Soviet Encyclopedia
2. Tate. "Viktor Deni 1893–1946". Tate. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
3. "Views and Re-Views: Soviet Political Posters and Cartoons". David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University Library. 6 September 2008. Retrieved 27 January 2010.
4. "Ватолина Нина Николаевна (1915–2002)". tramvaiiskusstv.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2024-08-24.
5. Spring, D. W. "SOVIET WAR POSTERS c.1940-1945: The TASS Poster Series from the Hallward Library, University of Nottingham". Adam Matthew Publications. Archived from the original on 17 September 2007. Retrieved 27 January 2010.

Further reading

• I. A. Sviridova, Viktor Nikolaevich Deni. Moscow: Izobrazitel'noe Iskusstvo, 1978.
• Stephen White, The Bolshevik Poster. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1990.

External links

• Biography at Lambiek Comiclopedia.