Vartan Nersesovich Arakelov was a Soviet graphic artist, painter and a muralist. Arakelov was a student at the Moscow Institute of Visual Art (MII) from 1933 to 1937. While the artist delved into poster design, it was not a mainstay of his career. Professionally, he was chiefly known for his mosaic panels of Soviet-era leaders such as Josef Stalin, but he also designed mosaic portraits of scientists and astronauts for the decoration of buildings throughout the USSR. ...

The 4th Poligraphic Plant for Lenin was located in Kiev, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic at 2 Kalinin Square (Independence Square). During the Soviet era, Independence Square was named in honor of Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (1875-1946) the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets and subsequently the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.

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.