Aram Vramshapu Vanetsian was born in what is today the Armenian city of Gyumri. He studied at the Stroganov School for Technical Drawing (A.K.A. Stroganov Arts School) from 1915 to 1918. From 1920 to 1923 he attended VKhUTEMAS (Higher Art and Technical Studios) in Moscow. His study concentration was painting. Of his numerous portraits, the one he created in 1939 of the Russian writer and playwright Issac Babel turned out to be the last representation of the writer made during his lifetime. In 1940, the year Vanetsian held a solo exhibition in Moscow, Babel died in Butyrka Prison.

The 3rd Krasnii Proletarii Typography Workshop of the Poligrafkniga (Book and Magazine Printing) 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.