Vitaly Nikolayevich Goryaev (; – 12 April 1982) was a Soviet and Russian painter, graphic illustrator and caricaturist. He was awarded the title People's Visual Artist of the USSR in 1981 and a recipients of the USSR State Prize in 1967.
Biography
Early years Vitaly Goryaev was born on 14 April 1910 in the family of a bank manager in Kurgan, Tobolsk Governorate (now the administrative centre of the Kurgan Oblast).
In 1921, he relocated with his family to Chita, where he began his creative journey. He received guidance from the local artist, Ivan Sverkunov, and accompanied him on study trips. He drew caricatures for the school newspaper in the style of popular magazines such as Smekhach and Prozhektor, and attempted to create illustrations in the style of Vladimir Lebedev. As a schoolboy, he started contributing to Zabaikalsky Rabochiy. Initially, he cut out other people's drawings on linoleum, but later he began creating his own.
The artist-to-be had other interests besides drawing. At 17, he experimented with circus and operetta, but ultimately designed sets, posters, and programs for productions. He also wrote poems in the style of V. Mayakovsky, which were eagerly printed by Chita newspapers. He made acquaintances with local poets and was accepted into the Chita Association of Proletarian Writers. However, in his later life, poems played a less significant role than the drawings he used to illustrate his own manuscripts.
In 1929, after graduating from high school, he enrolled in the Moscow Higher Technical School with the intention of studying bridge design. It was during this time that he had a fateful encounter with the poet V. Mayakovsky. The artist recounted the details of this meeting in various ways. According to Soviet sources, a student from a technical school approached the Moscow Association of Proletarian Writers to have a collection of Chita poets reviewed. However, he was unable to obtain a response or a manuscript. V. Mayakovsky assisted him in obtaining the manuscripts and agreed to assess his poems. Later, Mayakovsky's attention was drawn to a folder of drawings that the young man was carrying with him. During the modern period, the artist's family claims that he met V. Mayakovsky while playing billiards. They struck up a conversation and the artist challenged the famous poet to a game, which he won. As a result, the artist asked Mayakovsky to evaluate his manuscripts, which included illustrations of his own work in addition to poems. Although Mayakovsky was not interested in the poems, he was impressed by the drawings and convinced the artist to pursue a career in art instead of his technical speciality. V. Mayakovsky himself retrieved his documents from the school and went to the rector of the Higher Art and Technical Institute (VKhUTEIN), Pavel Novitsky, with Goryaev, to persuade Novitsky to hold an exam for the young man, despite the admission tests having already ended. As a result, Goryaev was admitted as a student of the Higher Art and Technical Institute.
Acquaintance with V. Mayakovsky changed the poet's life and developed into a friendship and creative collaboration. Mayakovsky entrusted him with the design of his exhibitions, including the exhibition 20 Years of Mayakovsky's Work in 1930, shortly before his death. In his book I Saw Them..., cartoonist Joseph Igin cites a story that his friend from the institute, V. Goryaev, told him in 1970s. During his cooperation with V. Mayakovsky, V. Goryaev was experiencing financial difficulties. Upon learning of this, the poet assisted him in securing a job as a costume designer at the Bolshoi Theatre. Due to his good physical condition, V. Goryaev was able to perform on stage as part of the corps de ballet in the production Footballer.
Studies In his second year at VKhUTEIN, he joined the poster and lithographic department led by Dmitry Moor. Later, he enrolled at the Polygraphic Institute (now the Moscow State University of Printing Arts), which was formed by merging Moscow and Leningrad VKhUTEIN. There, he studied under Alexandr Deyneka, Sergey Gerasimov, Pavel Pavlinov, Konstantin Istomin, Lev Bruni, and Vladimir Favorsky.
From 1931, he was a member of the Young October Art Association, and from 1932, he joined the newly formed Union of Artists of the USSR. At the insistence of D. Moore, while still a student, he began to participate in exhibitions and work for newspapers and magazines such as Bezbozhnik, Smena, Pioneer, and Propagandist. In 1934, he graduated from the institute, but, according to his son, was left without a diploma due to his difficult character.
His institute acquaintance Sergey Urusevsky recalled how in 1936, together with artist Viktor Vakidin they decided to sketch Vsevolod Meyerhold's productions. To gain access to the theatre, they created a petition on behalf of the institute. They reviewed and observed numerous productions, and this experience had a lasting impact on their future work. Goryaev spoke with Vs. Meyerhold, who suggested that he draw what was happening behind the scenes of the theatre instead of the events on stage. V. Goryaev was fascinated and created many drawings of backstage life, but unfortunately, they were lost in a fire during the war.
Creative work
Magazine graphics After graduating, he was assigned to the publishing house Izobrazitelnoye Iskusstvo, where he worked until the spring of 1935. During this time, he created several posters that were awarded competitive prizes. Following this, he accepted an invitation from the People's Commissariat of the River Fleet to become an artist on the propaganda steamer Propagandist. He travelled along the Volga and Kama rivers until the autumn of 1936, working at the wharves. At each new stop, the artist and the propaganda steamer's management learned about the state of local affairs, identified achievements and problems. The artist then worked on cartoons, slogans, and caustic caricatures. One individual who took issue with his drawing filed a complaint with the editorial office, alleging that he was impersonating a staff member of the magazine Krokodil. The magazine took notice and requested a meeting with the artist to discuss the matter. After clarifying the situation, the editorial board expressed appreciation for the artist's work and commissioned him to create a full-page drawing featuring water transport. Since then, he has frequently collaborated with Krokodil. His colleagues at the publication, including Leonid Soifertis, Yuliy Ganf, and Ivan Semyonov, became his good friends, and Lev Brodaty also became his teacher. He also collaborated with other illustrated publications, such as Smena and Tridtsat Dney. His cooperation with the magazine Yunost was particularly long, where he was a member of the editorial board from 1955 to 1981. The artist's cartoons published in the magazines were also published in independent collections.
Working as a war correspondent His initial war writings date back to the autumn of 1939 when he was sent as a war correspondent to the territories of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, which were annexed to the USSR as a result of the Polish campaign of the Red Army. He signed most of the sheets as Western Ukraine. During this trip, he created numerous genre drawings and watercolours, which were exhibited in Moscow in 1940. He also visited the annexed Baltic states.
During the early stages of the war between the USSR and Germany, he was employed at Okna TASS. In under six months, he produced 80 posters with the primary objective of exposing the 'new order' imposed by the Nazis in Western Europe. At the end of 1941, he led the Kuibyshev branch of Okna TASS for a period of time. Together with Nikolai Sokolov of the Kukryniksy team, he created several iconic posters, including the well-known caricature poster of Adolf Hitler and his entourage, Crows in Peacock Feathers.
In January 1942, the artist was suspended from work on Okna TASS after being denounced by a fellow graphic artist. The following month, he was drafted into the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army by the Soviet district military commissariat of Moscow. He was sent to the Western Front to serve as an art director and executive secretary of the military satirical magazine Frontovoy Yumor. This magazine was published in the format of unfolded sheets under the size of an officer's tablet and contained feuilletons, journalistic notes from the front line, poems and caustic caricatures of the enemy, designed to maintain the army's morale. Poets Alexey Surkov and Mikhail Matusovsky wrote to the magazine. Graphic artists Orest Goncharov, Yevgeny Yevgan, Andrey Goncharov, Boris Yefimov, Ivan Semyonov and Kukryniksy, painters Alexander Bubnov, Pavel Sokolov-Skalya and Pyotr Shukhmin collaborated under the guidance of the artist. Frontovoy Yumor was printed in city printing houses near the front line and in dugouts. After the liberation of Smolensk, the editorial office had a topography train. The magazine was edited by P. Bannik, M. Kogan, T. Mironov, M. Slobodskoy, and L. Shapiro. Between 1941 and 1945, the publication frequency of the magazine varied: 4 issues were published in 1941, 17 in 1942, 12 in 1943, 12 in 1944, and 6 in 1945. Between 1941 and 1945. The editorial office of Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda, where the artist's drawings were also published, was located near Frontovoy Yumor, and the artist formed a strong friendship with its chief editor, Aleksandr Tvardovsky.
For each issue of Frontovoy Yumor, he drew one or two cartoons. During the war, he created genre drawings based on real-life experiences and fresh impressions, depicting scenes from the front and the work of the home front. Several caricatures from the series New Order in Western Europe were exhibited at the Great Patriotic War exhibition in Moscow in 1943. The works comprising the On the Roads of War series were created through lithography. In 1944, they were exhibited alongside other war works by graphic artists Lev Brodaty and Aminadav Kanevsky. The artist finished the war in Königsberg with the rank of captain and was awarded the Order of the Red Star, as well as the medals "For Bravery", "For Battle Merit", "For the Capture of Koenigsberg", and "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945."
Creative trips
During the 1950s, the artist travelled extensively throughout the Soviet Union and abroad during the Khrushchev Thaw. He visited the Kakhovka Dam construction site twice in 1953–1954, where he created a series of genre drawings and watercolours. In 1956, he presented these works, along with post-war illustrations, at a joint exhibition with Konstantin Dorokhov, Sulamifi Zaslavskaya, Sarra Lebedeva, Andrei Goncharov, and Ilya Slonim in Moscow. It was, in fact, six separate expositions under a common roof, which became the artists' first large solo exhibitions.