Beautiful Vintage Posters Designed by Boris Artzybasheff

Three-Headed Dragon, circa 1920s

Born in 1899 in Kharkov, Boris Artzybasheff was a Russian-American illustrator known for his distinctive and often surreal designs.

His illustration career kicked off in 1922 with works for “Verotchka’s Tales” and “The Undertaker’s Garland,” leading to numerous other book illustrations throughout the 1920s. Throughout his career, he illustrated around 50 books, including some he authored, with “As I See” being among the most notable.

h/t: vintag.es

Kazbek Beauty Products, 1923

Artzybasheff gained considerable recognition for his magazine illustrations, especially in major American publications like Life, Fortune, and Time, creating 219 Time magazine covers between 1942 and 1966. These covers featured notable personalities such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Louis Armstrong, and Dave Brubeck.

The Line Book, 1929

Post-1940, Artzybasheff shifted his focus to commercial art, producing advertisements for major companies such as Xerox, Shell Oil, and Pan Am, among others

Three and the Moon, Legendary Stories of Old Brittany, Normandy and Provence by Jacques Dorey, 1929

Artzybasheff passed away in 1965 at 66. Below is a collection of vintage posters designed by him.

Three and the Moon, Legendary Stories of Old Brittany, Normandy and Provence by Jacques Dorey, 1929

Three and the Moon, Legendary Stories of Old Brittany, Normandy and Provence by Jacques Dorey, 1929

Aesop’s Fables, 1933

Stag Looking Into Water, 1933

“Melancholia”, from Neurotica, 1934

King Douda, from the book “Seven Simeons- A Russian Tale,” 1937

Seven Simeons, 1937

Seven Simeons, 1937

The Hunt, from the book “Seven Simeons- A Russian Tale,” 1937

The Last Trumpet, 1937

Art Week, Buy American Art, circa 1939

Nansen by Anna Gertrude Hall, 1940

The Incomplete Enchanter by Fletcher Pratt & L. Sprague de Camp, 1941

Propaganda, 1942

The Corn Kernel Constituents, Fortune Magazine, June 1943

Parker 51 ad, “Munition of Morale”, 1944

World Map of the Major Tropical Dieseases, 1944

“The Gwolphs of Saturn”, 1946

American Artist, October 1947

Anxiety-Frustration-Repressed Hostility, 1947

Alcoa Sails the Caribbean, 1948

Bermuda by Clipper, Pan Am, 1949

Hands Fighting, 1949

The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler, 1950

Ad for Shell X-100 Motor Oil, 1951

As I See, 1954