Evgenii Arkad'evich Vertogradov was born in Moscow and his father was a dramatic theater actor. At the young age of eleven his family enrolled him in the Moscow Secondary School of Art. In 1960, Vertogradov enrolled in the V.I. Surikov State Art Institute where he applied himself to graphic design. He launched his professional career in 1966 by working in the propaganda arts whereby he collaborated with the publishing houses Sovietskii Khudozhnik (Soviet Artist), Izobrazitel’noe Iskusstvo (Fine Art Publishers) and with production arm of Agitplakat, a poster collective. Vertogradov also made a name for himself in portraiture, landscape and still life painting. He has been a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR since 1978.

The Kalinin Poligrafkombinat was located at 5 Lenin Avenue (formerly Voroshilov Street) in Kalinin (now Tver), a city northwest of Moscow. Throughout its existence, the name of this printing plant changed depending on the various state-owned trusts that handled its management. Poligrafkombinat is the portmanteau for the English word, printing plant.

Founded in 1963, Izobrazitel'noe Iskusstvo (Fine Art Publishers), was dedicated to producing monographs, books, textbooks and study guides on the visual arts. It also published postcards and posters. Prior to the publisher's organization, Izogiz (State Publishing House of Fine Art) produced the lion's share of fine arts material for publication in the USSR and abroad.