Roman Gershanik

Painter, graphic artist, illustrator, poster designer. Born in the Ukrainian town of Elizavetgrad (now Kirovohrad) in the family of Vasily Gershanik (1898). Attended secondary school in Elizavetgrad (early 1910s) and moved to Moscow (1916), where he studied at the Polytechnic Institute and the studio of Ilya Mashkov (1917–18). Lived and worked in Vladivostok and Manchuria (early 1920s). Returned to Moscow, where he studied under Ilya Mashkov at the VKhUTEMAS (1923–26). Drew illustrations for the Red Pepper magazine (1925) and the Batrak and Komsomol Pravda newspapers (1926–27). Member of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1926–32) and the Union of Artists (from 1932). Designed propaganda posters (1920s–40s). Lived and worked in Tashkent (1941–45). Honoured Artist of Uzbekistan (1944). Illustrated Pyotr Pavlenko’s In the East (1937), Ivan Moshlyak’s At Lake Khasan (1939), Benjamin Kaverin’s The Vow of the Young (1945), Boris Polevoi’s Gold (1954), Konstantin Gordienko’s On Paid Work (1954), Anatoly Vershinin’s Swimming against the Tide (1956), Mikhail Stitelman’s Story of Childhood (1956), Alexander Isbach’s The Golden Waterlilies (1957) and Benjamin Ivanter’s The Shot (1964). Died in Moscow (1984). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1921). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia in Moscow (1926, 1928), First Travelling Exhibition of Painting and Graphic Art in Moscow (1929), Anti-Imperialist Exhibition Dedicated to International Red Day (1 August) at the Park of Culture and Relaxation (now Gorky Park) in Moscow (1931), Posters in the Service of the Five-Year Plan at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1932), Artists of the RSFSR Over Fifteen Years (1917–32) at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1933), Fifteen Years of the Red Army at Gorky Park in Moscow (1933), Russian Museum in Leningrad (1933–34), Taras Shevchenko All-Ukrainian Museum in Kiev (1934–35) and the All-Ukrainian Picture Gallery in Kharkiv (1935), Artists on Transport at Vsekokhudozhnik in Moscow (1934), Jewish Autonomous Region and Jewish National Districts in Painting and Graphic Art in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, Odessa, Minsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod), Kharkiv and Kazan (1936), Sixth Exhibition of the Union of Moscow Artists at the Vsekokhudozhnik Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow (1939), Exhibition of Drawing, Illustrations and Posters at the Central House of Workers of the Arts of the USSR in Moscow (1940), Exhibition of Painting, Watercolours and Graphic Art by Moscow and Leningrad Artists at the Pedagogical Institute in Bia?ystok (1940), Exhibition of Painting, Graphic Art and Sculpture at the Union of Artists Organising Committee and Vsekokhudozhnik in Moscow (1941), Works by Moscow Artists in the Days of the Second World War at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (1942), Posters on the Red Army at a theatre in Molotov (1942), Jubilee Republican Exhibition Dedicated to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of October at the Union of Artists of Uzbekistan in Tashkent (1943), All-Union Art Exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1946), Exhibition of Soviet Graphic Art in Vilnius, Kaliningrad, Kaunas, Riga, Liep?ja, Ventspils, Tallinn and Tartu (1947), Moscow in the Works of Artists (1147–1947) at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (1947), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1947 at the Tretyakov Gallery and Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (1947), Exhibition of Watercolours and Graphic Art by Moscow Artists in the Council of Ministers of the USSR Administrative Workers’ Club at 20 Bersen Embankment in Moscow (1948), Russian Ballet in Painting, Graphic Art and Sculpture at the Central House of Workers of the Arts of the USSR in Moscow (1948), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1949 at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1949), First All-Union Exhibition of Books, Graphic Art and Posters at the Academy of Arts of the USSR in Moscow (1950), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1951 at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1951–52), Spring Exhibition of Painting by Moscow Artists at the Moscow Fellowship of Artists in Moscow (1953), Exhibition of Painting by Moscow Artists at the Manège Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow (1954), Exhibition of Easel Graphic Art by Moscow Artists at the House of the Artist in Moscow (1954), Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Art and Works by Artists of the Theatre and Cinema of Moscow and Leningrad at Gorky Park in Moscow (1955), Exhibition of Painting and Graphic Art by Moscow Artists at Sokolniki Park in Moscow (1955), Fifth Exhibition of Works by Book Artists in the Union of Artists at 20 Kuznetsky Most in Moscow and at the Tartu Kunstimuuseum in Tartu (1955), All-Union Art Exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery, House of the Artist and Union of Artists at 25/9 Gorky (now Tver) Street in Moscow (1955), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Boris Kustodiev Regional Picture Gallery in Astrakhan (1955), Dagestani Philharmonic Hall in Makhachkala (1955), Vladimir Lenin Palace of Culture in Grozny (1955), Kosta Khetagkati Park of Culture in Ordzhonikidze (1955), Museum of Local Studies in Nalchik (1955), Vasily Blinov Club in Stavropole (1955) and Theatre of Musical Comedy in Pyatigorsk (1955–56), II Exhibition of Watercolours by Moscow Artists in the Union of Artists at 20 Kuznetsky Most in Moscow (1956), Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Art on the Occasion of the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Artists at the Union of Artists, Academy of Arts of the USSR, House of the Artist, ZiL Palace of Culture and Central House of Workers of the Arts in Moscow (1957), III Exhibition of Watercolours by Moscow Artists at the Central House of the Artist and Gorky Park in Moscow (1957), Socialist Moscow in the Works of Moscow Artists at the House of the Artist, Academy of Arts of the USSR and Union of Artists at 20 Kuznetsky Most and 17 Yermolai Lane in Moscow (1957), Exhibition of Graphic Works, Drawings, Posters and Books in the Free City of Danzig (1930), 500 Anos de Arte Russa – Dos Ícones à Arte Contemporânea at Oca in the Parque do Ibirapuera in Sâo Paolo (2002), Frauen in der UdSSR und im Ausland in Berlin (1931) and one-man shows in Moscow (1930, 1959, 1985) and Tashkent (1944).