Пётр Ашотович Саркисян (1922-1970) [Petr Ashotovich Sarkisian], designer

Сергей Дми́триевич Спасская (1898-1956) [Sergei Dmitrievich Spasskii], poet

НОВОГРАД-ВОЛЫНСКИЙ  НАШ! [Novograd-Volynskyi is Ours!] 

Stenciled poster on paper

TASS No. 891

[Moscow, Soviet Union]

TASS Studio

[1944]

Mounted to approx. 47 7/16 x 59 inches

A dramatic and beautifully composed Soviet propaganda poster celebrating the liberation of Novograd-Volynskyi (current-day Zviahel, Ukraine) from Nazi occupation. A Nazi soldier and officer flee dramatically, their uniforms in tatters and surrounded by the skulls of their fallen compatriots. 

Designed by Petr Sarkisian, an artist with the TASS Window Poster Studio, a propaganda studio based on the ROSTA model of stenciling posters. While initially committed to the ROSTA legacy of flat forms and limited colors, their designs became increasingly complex as the war drew on. 

Novograd-Volynskyi suffered brutal Nazi occupation from July 1941. The occupiers inflicted labor camps on the residents and committed mass executions of its Jewish population, which comprised nearly 30% of the total population. 

[Soviet Art, Propaganda, Posters, Ephemera, World War II, Operation Barbarossa]

Toning. Small losses to upper edge. Some rubbing at old creases.