Tsar’, pop i bogach [The Tsar, the Pope and the Rich Man] a poster by Alexander Apsit (1880–1944). Ordered by the Publishing Section of the All–Russian Central Executive Committee (referred to simply as VTsIK Publishing in the rest of this catalog), 1918, 106.5 x 71.5 cm.

The artist’s allegorical design was apparently considered quite successful, considering that it reused in a second version published under the Msheniye Tsaryam title. See the on–line catalogue of the British Library collection of Soviet Posters for additional details.

Apsit produced over 70 widely–distributed Soviet propaganda posters in 1918–1919. His contributions to the development of the propaganda genre were largely dismissed by early Soviet critics. Modern researchers, however, view him as “one of the important masters of the early Soviet political poster” (Stephen White, in The Bolshevik Poster).

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