Komarov, Aleksei Nikanorovich

Aleksei Nikanorovich Komarov was Russian and Soviet-era naturalist painter, book illustrator and graphic artist. Komarov reportedly was the illegitimate son of Russian landowner Pavel Feliksovich Rosetti and his housekeeper Daria Kuzminichna. Rosetti’s existence is historically-documented as far back as the era of Alexander II. Published sources indicate he owned an estate in Tula’s Efremovskii District. In what way Rosetti’s son assumed the surname Komarov is unknown.

Between 1897 and 1901, Komarov studied in Moscow under the tutelage of painter and graphic artist Aleksei Stepanovich Stepanov. Komarov’s earliest works were published in the books Strel’ba i okhota s sobakami (Shooting and hunting with dogs), Okhotnichii vestnik (Hunting bulletin), in the children’s periodical Murzilka, and in the 1927 children's book, Zhivotnye dal’nikh stran (Animals of Distant Lands). Komarov’s illustrations also were used in publications on nature and biology, and his work appeared on postage stamps in the Soviet Union. Two noted thematic paintings by the artist are, “Taras Bulba with his Sons” (1939) and “Lukashka’s arrival to the village” (1945).

In 1906, the artist ventured to Sweden and Norway, and a 1912 to the Ural Mountains. In 1915, he traveled to the Persian Empire, and in 1930, to Central Asia. During these undertakings, Komarov made sketches, drawings and paintings of wildlife used later on as illustrations in Imperial Russian and Soviet travel diaries, such as the 1941 publication on the explorer Nikolai Mikhailovich Przhevalskii. Aleksei Komarov also illustrated books by naturalist writers Peter von Manteuffel, Georgii Alexseevich Skrebitskii, Evgenii Pavlovich Spangenberg, and Vera Vasil'evna Chaplina to name a few.

During the Russian Revolution, Komarov carried out poster designs for the ROSTA studio (Russian Telegraph Agency). He also designed his own posters. Some of those titles include, “Don’t Forget to Give Your Child Boiled Water Without Sugar During the Heatwave!” and “Every Woman Should Know How to Properly Raise a Child' (1925). А postcard series of Komarov’s health posters were issued by the Soviet-based Protection of Motherhood and Infancy during the artist’s lifetime.

In 1947, Komarov was bestowed the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, and in 1972, the artist was named People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.