Grigor’iants, Petvakan Petrosovich

Petvakan Petrosovich Grigor’iants was a Soviet artist and graphic designer. In 1925, he graduated from the Krasnodar Art College Academy of Arts. He continued his artistic studies at the Leningrad VKhuTEIN (Higher Art and Technical Institute) from 1925 to 1929 -- the year he graduated. Venturing into graphic design, Grigor’iants began designing candy boxes, industrial goods and postcards. He also delved into the illustration of books. Some of the titles he worked on were: “S. M. Kirov" (1934); "Leningrad and the Leningrad Region -- Twenty Years of Soviet Power" (1937); "Russian Folk Songs” (1943); “Hero Cities” (1943), and more. During the Second World War, the artist was a part of the Boevoi karandash (Fighting Pencil) artistic group. Fighting Pencil artists designed hundreds of posters during and after the war. Throughout the infamous Leningrad blockade of the Second World War, Grigor’iants remained in the city.

Grigor’iants designed political posters from the 1930s through the 1960s for the publishing houses of Lenizdat, Izogiz, Muzgiz, and Iskusstivo (Art). Starting in 1928, he began exhibiting professionally. Some exhibitions in which he took part were: the “Leningrad Artists Exhibition” (1935, 1943, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1970); “Autolithographs of Leningrad Artists” (1939); “Works of Leningrad Artists During the Great Patriotic War” (1942); the “All-Union Art Exhibition of the Heroic Front and Rear” (1943); "Leningrad Book Graphics" (1947); "Book and Easel Graphics of Leningrad Artists" (1955); "40 years of the Soviet Armed Forces" (1958); "The Poster During the Great Patriotic War" (1963) that was held in Vologda; the “25th Anniversary of the Defeat of Nazi troops near Moscow” (1966); and, the Moscow-based exhibition, “Soviet Russia" (1970). Petvakan Petrosovich Grigor’iants was a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR and a member of LOSSKh (Leningrad Union of Artists). The artist’s year of death is alternatively recorded as 1986 in Soviet-era published sources.