Christmas trees New Year! Automatic translate

Exhibition of cartoons “Christmas trees and sticks New Year!” Graphics department at the MVK Russian Academy of Arts.

The Graphics Department of the Russian Academy of Arts presents an exhibition of caricatures by modern and Soviet artists who illustrated the pages of the famous satirical magazine “Crocodile”. In total, 90 works by 35 authors will be presented in the exhibition space of the Yabloko hall of the Russian Academy of Arts. Its permanent organizer, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, graphic artist Igor Alekseevich Smirnov, spoke about the upcoming project: “There was a time when we didn’t have the Internet, iPads and computers. On the eve of the holidays, and especially before the New Year, artists made original postcards and sent them by mail to each other. In Russia in the 19th century, postcards were called “open letters.” The first Christmas card in 1893 was commissioned by the official Henry Cole from the artist John Horsley, who painted several identical cards. The author of the first Christmas card was the artist Fyodor Berenstam. Famous artists took part in the creation of New Year’s cards before the revolution: Lev Bakst, Alexander Benois, Konstantin Makovsky, Nicholas Roerich, but the most popular designer of cards was Elizaveta Boehm. The history of creating postcards continued. During Soviet times, the production of New Year’s cards began to flow. We, cartoonists, wanted to create funny and witty drawings for postcards. Official cards depicted Santa Claus in space, on a car, and it was impossible to get a caricature on a New Year’s card! And we decided to draw the originals ourselves and send them to friends for the holidays. There are no photocopiers, no printing presses are available, we only sent originals. This exhibition presents New Year’s cards made by contemporary Moscow artists. There are also several authors from the famous Krokodil magazine. Laughter and smile only help in our lives, may 2024 be a calm, joyful year for all of us.”

The text was prepared by the Information Department (press service) of the Russian Academy of Arts