Vladimir Bogatkin

Lithographer, draughtsman, painter, book illustrator. Born in the family of Valerian Bogatkin in Moscow. Studied at Alexei Kravchenko’s studio at the age of twelve and at the Leningrad Secondary School of Art (1936–40). Worked as a decorator at the Red Army Central Theatre (1940–42) and in the Yevgeny Vakhtangov Frontline Brigade (1941–42). Served in the Red Army (1942). Joined the Mitrofan Grekov Studio of War Artists (1943). Helped to liberate the Crimea, Hungary, Romania and Berlin as part of the Second Ukrainian Front. Published wartime drawings in various periodicals. Travelled across the Soviet Union and abroad (after 1945).