Dmitrii Bulanov (1898–1942)

Poster: Nasha tsel’: podniav kul’turnyi uroven’ rabochego, priblizit’ mirovuiu revoliutsiiu (Our Goal: To Make a World Revolution Reality by Raising the Cultural Level of a Worker), 1927
Lithograph, 37 x 25 7/8” (94 x 65.7 cm)

This week we are featuring the work of Dmitrii Bulanov (Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Empire 1898–1942 Zlatoust, Chelyabinsk region, USSR). A designer of commercial, social, and political posters, Bulanov served as an instructor at IZO Narkompros, as head of the Propaganda Department of the southern Russian city of Nikolaev, and held other government roles. He produced posters for the State Advertising Agency of Leningrad of Communal Services, the International Red Aid, and the Leningrad Zoo, among others. The very inventiveness, whimsy, and irony that set Bulanov’s work apart from his peers, and which appeals to us today, earned him the label of “formalist.” Falsely accused of fomenting anti-Soviet propaganda, Bulanov was arrested in 1941, and died in prison the following year.

For our Dmitrii Bulanov artist page on our website, click here.

Poster: Zoologicheskii sad: Zoosad popolnen redkimi ekzempliarami zverei (Zoo: The [Leningrad] Zoo Has Been Replenished with Rare Specimens of Wild Animals), 1927
Lithograph, 21 x 28 7/16” (53.3 x 72.2 cm)

Poster: Zoosadom poluchena novaia bol’shaia partiia zverei (The [Leningrad] Zoo Has Just Received a Large New Group of Wild Animals), 1930
Lithograph, 41 1/4 x 28 1/2” (104.8 x 72.4 cm)

Poster: Reklama v tramvae chitaetsia ezhednevno millionom liudei (Tram Advertisements are Read Daily by Millions of People), 1926
Lithograph, 24 x 30 1/4” (61 x 76.8 cm)

Poster: Paevaia kopeika—kooperativnyi rubl’ berezhet (Shared Kopeck Saves the Cooperative Ruble), 1930
Lithograph, 29 1/8 x 41 3/8” (74 x 105.1 cm)

Poster: Zheleznodorozhnik pomni: bespereboinye perevozki—osnova uspeshnogo vypolneniia piatiletki narodnogo khoziaistva v chetyre goda (Railroad Worker: Remember that Uninterrupted Shipping Operations are the Foundation of the Successful Fulfillment of the Five-Year Plan of the National Economy in Four Years), 1931
Lithograph, 40 x 27 3/4" (101.6 x 70.5 cm)

Poster: Piatiletka kadrov obshchestvennogo pitaniia (Five-Year Plan Targets for Training of Specialists for Public Canteen System), 1931
Lithograph, 40 1/2 x 28 1/8” (102.9 x 71.4 cm)

October 13, 2026