Viktor Semenovich Ivanov attended Moscow Secondary Professional Art School from 1926 to 1929. In 1928, he took classes at a studio of Dmitrii Kardovskii the Russian artist, illustrator and stage designer, and from 1929 to 1933, Ivanov continued his education at the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture that was affiliated with the Russian Academy of Arts of Leningrad. In 1931, Viktor Ivanov began designing for the state publishing house Ogiz-Izogiz where he achieved acclaim as a prolific artist whose concentration ...

The 1st Exemplary Typography Workshop was named in honor of Andrei Alexandrovich Zhdanov (1896-1948), a Soviet military leader and a senior member of the Politburo who died in 1948. Reportedly, Andrei Zhdanov controlled the atomic espionage division of the USSR and he was Josef Stalin's closest confidant. Historically, the 1st Exemplary Typography Workshop began as the Sharapov-Sytin Partnerhip, a printing workshop formed before the Russian Revolution. Ivan Dmitrievich Sytin (1851-1934) was the son of a peasant. ...

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.