Vasily Yermilov

Painter, graphic artist, book illustrator, designer, teacher. Born in the family of a tailor called Dmitry Yermilov in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv (1894). Studied under Ladislav Trakal at the Kharkiv Studio of Decorative Painting (1905–09), under Eduard Antonovich Steinberg and Olexei Grot at the Kharkiv School of Drawing and Painting (1910), Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1912–13), private studios of Ilya Mashkov and Pyotr Konchalovsky in Moscow (1913), studio of Eduard Antonovich Steinberg in Kharkiv (1913–14) and Kharkiv School of Art (1913–14). Member of Blue Lily (1911–12), Thistle (1914) and the Union of Seven (1917). Fought and injured in the First World War (1915–18). Founded academic and industrial studios in Kharkiv (1919), renamed the State Factory of Industrial Art (1920), where he designed posters and May Day decorations (1920–21). Head of the department of art of the Ukrainian branch of the Russian Telegraph Agency (1921). Member of the Association of Revolutionary Art of the Ukraine (1925) and the Kharkiv Association of Artists (1928). Designed monuments, furniture, toys, a new typeface (Ermilov) and the interiors of pavilions and theatres (1920s–30s). Fought in the Second World War (1941–44). Taught at Kharkiv Institute of Art and Industry (1944–47, 1963–67). Died in Kharkiv and buried at the Second Municipal Cemetery (1968). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1909), including XVI Exhibition of Pictures of the Fellowship of Kharkiv Artists in Kharkiv (1913), Pressa exhibition in Cologne (1928), Abstraction in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02), Collage in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2005–06) and one-man shows in Kharkiv (1962) and Moscow (2012).