Bershadskii, Grigorii Solomonovich

Grigorii Solomonovich Bershadskii was a Soviet graphic artist, painter and illustrator. He began his artistic studies (from 1908 to 1913) in the Astrakhan-based studio of Pavel Alekseevich Vlasov. Around 1913, Bershadskii attended the Odessa Art School. From 1920 to 1923, the artist worked in Kharkov, and then he moved to Moscow. Beginning in 1919, Bershadskii started designing and illustrating books for the state-owned publishing houses of the Soviet Union. Vladimir Mayakovskii's work, "Flying Proletarian" (1925), was one title designed by the artist during that early period. In 1933, Bershadskii created illustrations for the magazine Iskusstvo (Art). While his career centered on book design, Bershadskii also elaborated several posters such as, "Women Workers and Women Peasants! Go for Cooperation" (c. 1924), "Subscription is open -- Bulletin of the Air Fleet -- Subscribe All!" (1926), and "October Decade - The Fifth Anniversary of MOPR" (1927). During the 1930s, Grigorii Bershadskii painted portraits of leading figures of the Soviet Union such as Vladimir Lenin, Anatolii Lunacharskii, Maksim Gor’kii, Mikhail Pokrovskii, and others. Starting in 1915, the artist began professionally exhibiting his work. Grigorii Bershadskii typically signed his artwork with the initials G.B. stylized in the form of a chop mark.