Mikhail Mikailovich Solov'ev was born in Moscow. In 1930 he graduated from the advanced courses of the A.Kh.R.R. (Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia). While he began his professional career as a painter, from 1944 on, he exclusively designed posters. He was made a member of the Union of Soviet Artists in 1933. During the 1930s, Solov'ev worked together on posters and dioramas with the graphic designer Pavel Sokolov-Skalia.

The 3rd Krasnii Proletarii Typography Workshop of Glavpoligrafizdat (Main Administration for Matters of Polygraphic Industry Publishing and Book Selling) was located at 16 Krasnoproletarskaia Street in Moscow.

Iskusstvo was the Art Publishing House (A.K.A. Visual Arts Publishing) that was created in 1936 from Ogiz-Izogiz (State Art and Literature Publishing House). It disseminated books and journals dealing with graphic design and the fine arts, and it issued numerous posters. Since the Iskusstvo banner was part of the State Printing Works in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) and Moscow, its two main offices were located in those two cities.