Filippov, Vsevolod Andreevich

Vsevolod Andreevich Filippov was a multi-faceted artist chiefly known for his work in the printing industry. Filippov received his initial art education at a private school guided by the Russian painter, Petr Ivanovich Kelin. Following graduation from Kelin’s school, Filippov enrolled in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1914 where he was a student of Apollinarii Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, the noted Russian painter and graphic artist. In addition, Filippov was under the tutelage of Abram Efimovich Arkhipov, the Russian realist painter. Between the two teachers, Filippov’s artistic flourishing took flight. At the Moscow school, Filippov studied alongside future Soviet-era artists including Arkadii Plastov, Vladimir Mayakovskii and Mikhail Markov.

One of Filippov’s first professional jobs (1915-1916) was illustrating a re-printing of the “Tale of the Golden Cockerel” by the poet Alexander Pushkin. During this era, Filippov’s painting, “Bazaar in the Old Russian City”, was awarded the Pavel Tretyakov Prize in 1917. The painting was subsequently included in the collection of the Tretyakov Museum (a.k.a., Igor Grabar Art Gallery) in Yegoryevsk.

In 1918, the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture was nationalized by the Soviets whereby it became Svomas (Free State Art Studios). The school was later named Vkhutemas (Higher Art and Technical Studios), and it was there where Filippov continued to study under Abram Arkhipov while also taking an etching class by the graphic artist Vadim Falileev.

In 1919, Filippov made an artistic excursion to the city of Bryansk where he worked in the municipal Agitation Department. He also guided the Bryansk art studio and the art club of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Returning to Moscow to recover from an illness, Filippov rotated to the graphic arts workshop at Vhutemas. He studied engraving techniques and mastered the art of aquatint, soft varnish, etching, lithography, woodcut and linocut.

By the 1920s, Vsevolod Filippov was working in the printing industry as a graphic designer of Soviet books. He also created new fonts and illustrations for the newspapers “Rabochaia Gazeta” (The Workers' Newspaper) and “Vechernyaya Moskva” (Evening Moscow) and for the magazines Murzilka (a periodical for young readers); Shirm (Screen) and Krasnyi Sport (Red Sport), the first sports newspaper of the Soviet Union. Filippov also designed book covers for the Central Administration of Industry and for the All-Union Book Publishing House.

Filippov co-designed posters with the artist Vladimir Maiakovskii, and own accord, he designed posters for MODVF (Moscow Society of Friends of the Air Fleet of the RSFSR). He also created designs for songs by Tchaikovskii, Mussorgskii, Rimsky-Korsakov, and for works by contemporary composers.

During the Second World War Filippov made a creative trip (with the Union of Artists) to collect material on the battle for Naro-Fominsk in Moscow Oblast. Based on the impressions, an album of drawings titled “At Places of Battles for Naro-Fominsk” was born. Filippov exhibited the compositions at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow.

Filippov began exhibiting work at the 1917 Exhibition of Young Artists held at the Moscow School of Painting. He also had his work featured at exhibitions at the Moscow Art Theater, the Moscow Union of Artists, the Society of Artists of the Moscow School, the 48th Traveling Exhibition of the Wanderers (1923), the Russian Academy of Arts in conjunction with A.Kh.R.R. (Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia), of which the artist became a member in 1924; and at the All-Artist “Landscape of Our Homeland” exhibit (1941). The first (and only) solo exhibition of Filippov was held in 1955 in Moscow.

After the artist’s solo exhibit in 1955, the Moscow Union planned the graphic design album, “Old Russian Architecture”, featuring drawings of historical topics made by Filippov. Although accepted by a publisher, the draft sat dormant until the artist’s daughter revived it by taking it out of the publisher’s archive. Reportedly, the same applied to artist’s book, “At Places of Battles for Naro-Fominsk”. After the 1955 exhibition, a monograph on the artist was released (in 1957) by the publishing house "Soviet Artist" with a cover design created by Filippov himself. A second solo exhibit was planned but never came to fruition due to Filippov’s death.

In 1957, Vsevolod Filippov was nominated to receive the title Honored Worker of Arts of the RSFSR, however, the corresponding members of the Academy of Arts of the USSR reportedly let the nomination, “sink into bureaucratic procedure.”