KUKRYNIKSY (ACTIVE 1924-1980s) Neutral Life, 1939 India ink and pencil on paper 31.5 x 26.5 cm (12 3/8 x 10 1/2 in.) signed and dated lower left, titled upper center; inscribed and signed by the editorial staff of Pravda newspaper on verso, appointing the artwork to be published on page 43 of Issue No 2
LOT NOTES Kukryniksy is a combination of the names of three caricaturists, Mikhail KUpriyanov, Porfiri KRylov and NIKolai Sokolov, who had met at VKhutemas in the early 1920s, and began drawing caricatures under the joint signature as of 1924. The Kukyniksy became famous nationally and internationally in the 1930s, for their caricatures such as the present lot, relating to fascism and caricaturing figures such as Hitler, Mussolini, Himmler, Goebbels and Franco, which were published in satirical journals such as Krokodil and widely printed newspapers such as Pravda.