Dobrovol'skii, Vladimir Petrovich

Добровольский, Владимир Петрович

Born March 16, 1912 (August 15, 1920?), Usolye-Sibirskoye, Russian Empire; died 1991, Moscow, Russia

Vladimir Petrovich Dobrovol'skii was born in the Irkutsk Oblast in the town of Usolye-Sibirskoye located on the Angara River. Although he was never formally educated in art it was at an early age that he showed talent. From the 1930s until the 1970s, Dobrovol'skii contributed political caricature illustrations for the newspapers "Pravda" (Truth), "Komsomolskaya Pravda" (Komsomol Truth), "Izvestiya" (News), "Sovetskaya Rossiya" (Soviet Russia) in addition to the magazines "Krokodil" (Crocodile) and "Yunost" (Youth). During the 1960s, he partnered with the graphic artist Mark Abramov creating a series of political posters. Dobrovol'skii also worked for book publishers in the towns of Irkutsk and Perm. In 1974 he was bestowed the title "Honored Artist of the RSFSR".
The online index of USSR Artist Union members cites Dobrovol'skii's birth date as August 15, 1920.

PP 049: Let’s All Together Stop the Nuclear Threat!
The members of mass manifestation and anti-war meetings are making this claim.

PP 362: Fulfill and exceed the new five-year plan! More bread for the country!

PP 581: Resume of the Soviet Army.
This resume gives glory
to the beloved army.
But at the top of this list
there are vacant positions.
Sergei Michalkov

PP 1044: Long live the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – the Great Socialist Fatherland, the Indestructible Multinational Community of Fraternal Peoples, Living Out in Full the Principles of Proletarian Internationalism!

Sources & Citations

Groys, B., Hollein, M. (2003). Dream factory Communism: The visual culture of the Stalin era. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz.
Stykalin, S.I., & I. Kremenskaya. (1963). Sovetskaya satiricheskaya pechat', 1917-1963. Moscow: Politizdat.
painters.artunion.ru (Dobrovol'skii birth and death dates)