Nikolai Dolgorukov (1902–1980)

Poster: Beregis’ otravleniia. Otyskivai propuski ammiaka sernoi nitkoi
(Beware of Poison. Watch Out for Ammonia Leaks), 1930
Lithograph, 29 x 19 3/4” (73.7 x 50.2 cm)

The Merrill C. Berman Collection includes close to thirty preliminary studies, maquettes, and posters by the important yet understudied Soviet graphic artist Nikolai Dolgorukov (1902–1980). In the introduction to her 2020 publication In the Service of the State: Nikolai Dolgorukov and the Art of Persuasion, Alla Rosenfeld writes: “Although the literature on Soviet propaganda posters is enormous, it remains narrowly focused on a small group of designers, particularly Gustav Klutsis, El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko, and the Stenberg brothers. Dolgorukov has garnered little attention despite the definitive role he played in his own national context.” A 1973 Russian catalogue of Dolgorukov’s work claimed that “millions of Soviet viewers know the poster art of Dolgorukov very well, millions of Soviet readers are familiar with the high mastery of Dolgorukov in the field of caricature,” but until the appearance of Rosenfeld’s book, there was no substantial study of the artist in either Russian or English.

For Rosenfeld’s monograph on Dolgorukov, which places the artist’s works in Berman’s collection within the context of his career more broadly, click here.

Sozdadim moshchnuiu bazu industrializatsii na vostoke! (Let’s Create a Powerful Basis for Industrializing the Country’s Eastern Regions!), 1931
L: Sketch. Pencil and crayon on paper, 11 3/4 x 8 1/16” (29.8 x 20.5 cm)
R: Poster. Lithograph, 41 3/8 x 29 3/16” (105.1 x 74.1 cm)

Na shturm poslednego chetvertogo goda piatiletki!
(Let’s Surpass the Plan’s Final Year!), 1931
L: Sketch. Gouache and pencil on paper, 5 1/16 x 3 3/16” (12.9 x 8.1 cm)
R: Poster. Lithograph, 39 1/2 x 27 1/4”

Metropoliten: glavnoe sredstvo razreshaiushchee problemy bystrykh i deshevykh liudskikh perevozok (The Metro: The Most Important Solution to the Problem of the Fast and Cheap Transportation of People), 1931
L: Sketch. Cut-and-pasted black paper, cut-and-pasted printed photographic reproductions (halftone relief), colored pencil, pencil, and ink on printed graph paper, 8 1/8 x 11 5/8” (20.6 x 29.5 cm)
R: Poster. Lithograph, 28 1/4 x 40 1/8” (102 x 72 cm)

Poster: Transportnik, vooruzhaias’ tekhnicheskimi znaniiami, boris’ za rekonstruktsiiu transporta (Transport Worker, Armed with Technical Skill, Strives to Reconstruct Transportation), 1931
Lithograph, 41 1/16 x 28 5/8” (104.3 x 72.7 cm)

Za Mirovoi Oktiabr’! Proletarii vsekh stran soediniaites’! (Proletariat of the World, Unite Under the Banner of World October!), 1932
L: Sketch. Gouache, pencil, and colored pencil on paper,
11 1/8 x 8 1/4” (28.3 x 21 cm)
R: Poster. Lithograph, 57 1/2 x 39 3/8” (146.1 x 100 cm)

Poster: Da zdravstvuet velikoe, nepobedimoe znamia Marksa Engel'sa Lenina (Long Live the Great Invincible Banner of Marx, Engels and Lenin), 1935
Lithograph, 57 3/4 x 21 1/4” (146.6 x 54 cm)

October 6, 2026