Kuznetsov, Konstantin Konstantinovich

Born in the city of Perm. Immediately after the birth of Konstantin, the family moved to Chernigov, where his father, also Konstantin Konstantinovich, taught Russian literature. After graduating from the gymnasium, Kuznetsov entered the law faculty of the University of St. Vladimir in Kiev, but had to interrupt his studies - the failed lawyer was mobilized and sent to the 3rd Peterhof Ensign School. Since 1921, he emigrated to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, where he began working as a full-time artist in the Mitić department store, the largest department store in pre-war Belgrade. Here Kuznetsova, as an advertising artist, is noticed by the publisher Alexander Ivkovich and invites to collaborate. The scripts for Kuznetsov were written by his friend Pavel Polyakov and his wife Zinaida (after Larionov’s first husband), several comics were made based on the scripts of Branko Vidich.

Konstantin Kuznetsov gained wide European fame as a comic book author. In 1937, he published his first comic strip entitled “Mother,” and he also draws comedic strips about two monkeys in the Walt Disney style “Bohemia” at that time. In 1937-1941, he completed 26 comics for the Belgrade magazine Mika Mish (Mickey Mouse), which was published by the owner of the Rus printing house, Russian emigrant Alexander Ivkovich . Among them are comics of the mystical adventure genre: “Countess Margot”, “Vampire Baron” (1939), “Three Lives” (1940), “Wall of Death” (1941); comics based on Russian literature: “Hadji Murad” by L. N. Tolstoy (1937-1938), “The Night Before Christmas” by N. V. Gogol , “Queen of Spades” by A. S. Pushkin (1940) and others. In 1940-1941, he published the Peter the Great comic in the journal Politikin Udimir and comics based on fairy tales by A. Pushkin “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” and “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel”, which were influenced by the style of book graphics by I. Ya. Bilibina . The author of the comic books Sindbad Sailor, Descendant of Genghis Khan, Orient Express, Ali Baba and 40 Thieves and others, which were published not only in Serbia, but also in the French magazines Gavroche, Jumbo , “Aventures”, “Le journal de Toto”, “Les grandes aventures”.

During the war, he continues to draw mainly military cartoons and posters, some of which are realized in the form of comics. In 1944, the pages of the Mali Zabavnik published several works, of which the most interesting is The Tale of the Unfortunate King. This is an allegorical propaganda work, with satirical content about the events of the Anglo-Soviet coup in Belgrade on March 27, 1941. The main characters are modern political figures of that time: King Alexander I Karageorgievich (old king), King Peter II Karageorgievich (young king), Winston Churchill (nobleman of the evil ruler), Josip Broz Tito (bandit) and Joseph Stalin (northern bloodthirsty ruler). ^[one]

In the fall of 1944, Kuznetsov fled from Yugoslavia and ended up in a camp for displaced persons in Austria; at the end of 1946 he ended up in Munich. Here he is trying to make a living as an artist - illustrates books and draws cartoons for the humorous magazine "Parsley". To the 33rd anniversary of the 1st Kuban campaign Kuznetsov together with General P.I. Glazenap compiles, draws and publishes a beautiful essay album “Ice Campaign”. Then he moved again - emigrating to the USA, where he continues to draw, but not comics anymore, but illustrations, paintings, postcards and icons: he is the author of watercolors on Russian themes for Christmas cards and calendars by New York publisher Martyanov. He collaborated with Cathedral Films film studio, for which he painted about 1,500 illustrations on Christian motifs. In the 50s he met with collector Sonya Coulfax who bought 56 ​​works from him. Konstantin Kuznetsov died in Los Angeles. His paintings and icons are now kept at the Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco.

Kingdom of Yugoslavia, 1937-1941

1937

• Mother (Majka), 1937.
• Korolevich Marco (Kraљeviћ Marco), 1937.
• Mysteries of Chicago (Mysteries of Chicago), 1937.
• Bohemia (Boymi), 1937.
• The Story of a Cat with Four Paws (Pricha o Machki s chetiri leg), 1937.
• Ben Kerigan (Ben Kerigan), 1937.
• Hadji Murad (Haџi Murat), 1937.

1938

• Orient Express (Orient Express), 1938.
• A Thousand and One Nights: Sinbad the Sailor (1001 noћ: Sinbad the Seafarer), 1938.
• Prince Milos (Kaz Milos), 1938.
• A Thousand and One Nights: Aladdin and the Magic Lamp (1001 noћ: Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp), 1938.
• Countess Margot (Countess Margot), 1938.

1939

• A Thousand and One Nights: Ali Baba and Forty Thieves (1001 noћ: Ali Baba and 40 Hajduka), 1939.
• A Thousand and One Nights: Prince the Tailor (1001 noћ: Prince Crojach), 1939.
• Baron the Vampire, 1939.
• A Thousand and One Nights: Baghdad Thief (1001 noћ: Baghdad Lop), 1939.

1940

• The night before Christmas (God’s New Year), 1940.
• Three lives (Three bellies), 1940.
• Stenka Razin (Stjeka Razin), 1940.
• The Queen of Spades (Queen of Spades), 1940.
• The Magic Flute (Charobna Frula), 1940.
• The Tale of Tsar Saltan (Bajka of Tsar Saltan), 1940.
• The Tale of the Golden Cockerel (The Tale of the Golden Loopћu), 1940.

1941

• Peter the Great (Petar Veliki), 1941.
• Don Quixote, (Don Quixote), 1941.
• Sign of death (Zhig smrti), 1941.

The Nedic Government, 1941-1944

• Works for the "Anti-Masonic Exhibition", without a signature, 1941
• Works at Bodikikawo Pres

• Between Love and the Fatherland (Izmeђu Kubavi and Otaџbin), 1943.
• Toad – royal (Toad kraљeviћ), 1943.
• The suffering and salvation of the venerable Stoiko (Muk and the salvation of the venerable Stojk), 1944.
• India is waking up! (India Be awake!), 1944.
• The Little Humpbacked Horse (Koњits vileњak), 1944.
• Winners of the Jungle (Pobednitsa Kungle), 1944.
• He who wants more will lose what he has (To ruin more and ruin it from time), 1944.
• The Story of the Unfortunate King (The Parable of the Unlimited World), 1944.

Munich, 1945-1950

• The Hunt for Nuclear Secret (Die Jagd nach dem Atomgeheimnis), 1945.
• Encrypted Letter (Der chiffrierte Brief), 1945
• All's well that ends well / Ende gut alles gut), 1945

• Design of the book The Little Humpbacked Horse, Edition of the KP Camp Kellerberg, 1946
• The cover of the magazine "Lights", No. 1, 1946
• Covers and illustrations for the books "Donkey Brake", "Mud-grass" A. Chernogo , 1946
• Works for the magazine "Parsley"
• Collection “Ice Campaign”, 1949

USA, 1950-1980

• Illustrations for Two Tigers: Stories, Boris Gerasimov-Sherwood, San Francisco, 1953
• Cover for the book Gallipoli. 1920-1955: Lemnos-Chatalja-Bizerte, Hollywood, California, 1955
• Cover for “Debt of Honor”, ​​Anniversary collection of the Committee for Assistance to Russian Military Disabled Abroad, 1955
• Works in the publishing house of Nikolai Martyanov
• Illustrations for Native Nests, Markov, Anatoly , San Francisco, 1962
• Illustrations for Soldier's Tales: Favorites, Black, Sasha , Monterey, California, 1964
• A brief report on the life of the Society of Russian Veterans of the First World War in Los Angeles, compiled by the General Staff Captain Dumbadze on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of September 5, 1965
• Illustrations for “I can! : a novel in 2 parts ", Narokov, Nikolai , Buenos Aires, 1965
• Cover and illustrations for the poem by I. A. Avtamonov “Rogneda” (Los Angeles, 1970)
• Illustrations for the book “Baptism of Rus” (Canada, 1970)
• Illustrations for The Chamberlain of the Yard: Novel, Petrov, Victor Porfiryevich , Washington, 1973

• Leykind O. L., Makhrov K. V., Severyukhin D. Ya. Artists of the Russian Abroad.
• http://www.rastko.rs/strip/zupan_kuznjecov_c.html