Liubimov, Alexander Mikhailovich

Alexander Mikhailovich Liubimov was Russian and Soviet-era painter, graphic artist, caricaturist, and art teacher. From 1895 to 1901, Liubimov studied at the School of Technical Drawing of Baron Alexander von Stieglitz in St. Petersburg. Thereafter, he continued at the Higher Art School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts. After graduating in 1909, Liubimov managed the Kharkov Art School from 1912 to 1919. He reportedly was recommended for the job by the noted Russian painter Illia Repin.

Liubimov contributed to the magazine "Theater and Art" (from 1900 to 1912). He designed an extensive collection of images pertaining to Russian theater figures such as Vsevolod Meierkhol’d, Vera Komissarzhevskaia, Konstantin Stanislavskii, and others. From 1900 to 1910, he designed portraits and genre paintings.

Beginning in Sevastopol in 1917, the artist participated in national exhibitions. During the Russian Civil War, Alexander Liubimov served in the Red Army and in that era he began designing posters. His initial foray reportedly began during his position at the Caucasus and Transcaucasian branches of the ROSTA Windows Collective.

In 1927, at the invitation of the Krasnaia Gazeta (Red Gazette) in Leningrad, he gained a position as an illustrator. In addition, he contributed to other magazines, and assisted in the design of film posters. Liubimov taught at the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (from 1934 to 1941, he was made a professor in 1939) and the V. I. Mukhina Higher School of Art and Industry (from 1949 to 1955, he was made a professor in 1949).

Liubimov is noted for his portraits featuring famous artists. These works include Ivan Vasilievich Ershov (1930), the Russian and Soviet opera singer; composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1935), the artist Isaak Izrailevich Brodskii (1938), and other noted celebrities. From 1932 to 1934, Liubimov worked at a history museum in Orel, and during the mid-1930s, he served as an illustrator for the newspaper, Red Army Soldier. During the Second World War, to boost morale on the home front, Liubimov, created a series of caricatures depicting Hitler and the fascists losing control of the war.

During his career, the artist designed numerous posters promoting the industrial and military power of the Soviet Union. One key poster he designed was “The Red Army is the faithful defender of October, the mainstay of the architecture of peace, the USSR”, (1932).

Alexander Mikhailovich Liubimov was a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR and he was a founding member of the Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists (LOSSKh).