Ganf (Iang), Iosif Abramovich

Iosif Abramovich Ganf was a graphic artist, poster designer, and a commercial illustrator. He was the brother of Soviet cartoonist Iulii Abramovich Ganf. Beginning in 1924, Iosif worked at the Moscow-based newspaper Pravda. He also held illustrator posts at the newspapers Izvestia and Rabochaia Gazeta. From 1927 to 1933, Ganf created political cartoons for the satirical magazines Krokodil (Crocodile) and Smekhach (Laughter). In the early 1930s, he became a member the Association of Workers of the Revolutionary Poster (ORRP). He began participating in exhibitions in 1932. His initial exhibition was with The Poster in the Service of the Five-Year Plan (1932, Moscow) that was held in the State Tretiakov Gallery. The artist’s work was also included in the exhibit, “Ten Years Without Lenin on the Leninist Path” (1934, Moscow). Iosif Abramovich Ganf typically signed his work under the pseudonym “Iang” (Yang) that came from the Russian transliteration of the English word “young”.

Ganf worked as a graphic designer for the Soviet publishing houses Isskustvo (Art) and Izogiz. Aside from posters, he created designs for Soviet postage stamps such as: "In Memory of the 26 Baku Commissars" (1933), "10th Anniversary of USSR Civil Aviation” (1934), "USSR Pavilion, International Exhibition in Paris” (1938), and "20 Years After the Death of V. I. Lenin" (1944). Ganf was a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. In 1964, he was bestowed the title People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.