Toidze, Iraklii Moiseevich

Iraklii Moiseevich Toidze was a Soviet graphic artist and painter. He began his artistic studies at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts where he graduated in 1930. His earliest works, like the 1927 “Ilyich's Light Bulb” (held in the Museum of Art of Oriental Peoples, Moscow), helped underscore the role of Soviet themes within the field of Georgian art. Furthermore, Toidze executed the noted Georgian-themed painting, “Young Dzhugashvili [Stalin] reads Rustaveli's 'The Knight in the Panther's skin’” (1948).

During the Second World War, Toidze designed numerous posters for the war effort including the title, "The Motherland Calls!" (1941). The poster had a print run of 5 million copies when it was first produced. It was distributed to the city and district Soviets, and to the offices of the Communist Party and the military. According to Soviet historian Igor Bunich, the poster was designed in December 1940, just months prior to Germany’s attack on the Soviet Union. The poster had at least two print runs during the war in 1941 and 1943, respectively. Other posters designed by the artist during the war include, “For the Motherland, For Stalin!” (1941); “Defend the Caucasus!” (1942); “I Swear to Defeat the Enemy!”, “All Forces at the Rear Help the Front!" (both 1943); “Make Europe Free from Fascist Slavery!” (1945).

In the post-war era, Toidze designed the following posters, “Long Live the All-Union Communist Party, Bolshevik—Party of Lenin-Stalin, Inspirer and Organizer of Our Great Victories!” (1946); “Stalin's Caring Brightens the Future of Our Children!" (1947); “The Power of the Police Militia is in its Connection with the People!" (1955); “Sport in the USSR is the Sport of Millions!” (1956) and, “Let Us Celebrate the 22nd Party Congress with New Labor Victories” (1966), to name a few.

Toidze was the recipient of the Stalin Prize in 1941, 1948, 1949 and in 1951. He also was awarded the Red Banner of Labor and he was bestowed the titles of Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1951) and People's Artist of the Georgian SSR (1980). Iraklii Toidze was a member of the Association of Revolutionary Artists of the Georgian SSR and a member of A.Kh.R. (Association of Artists of the Revolution).