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 (...

Iskusstvo was the Art Publishing House (A.K.A. Visual Arts Publishing) that was created in 1936 from Ogiz-Izogiz (State Art and Literature Publishing House). It disseminated books and journals dealing with graphic design and the fine arts, and it issued numerous posters. Since the Iskusstvo banner was part of the State Printing Works in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and Moscow, its two main offices were located in those two cities.