Da zdravstvuyet XXXI godovshchina Velikoi Oktyabr’skoi Sotsialisticheskoi Revolyutsii! [All Hail the 31st Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution!], a poster by Emanuil Grabovetsky (1912-2007). Published by Krimizdat, [Simferopol], 1948. 83 x 55 cm.

According a lengthy article about the artist we found on the internet, Grabovetsky was exposed to book printing and books illustration since childhood — his father was an engraver and printer. The family lived in Simferopol, the administrative center of Crimea. The young artist was sent to study book printing in Moscow, then got drafted into the Army. Returning to Crimea before the war, he worked as a book illustrator and as a newspaper artist. Called to duty again in 1941, he was assigned to the army unit that got trapped in Crimea, and spent more than a year fighting as a partisan behind the enemy lines; meanwhile, his entire family was killed by the Germans. Severely wounded, he was finally flown out of Crimea, and awarded an order of Red Banner, a big honor for a soldier at the time. Once recovered, he was dropped back to fight with the partisans.

After the war, Grabovetsky returned to work in Simferopol, and became a regular participant in the local art exhibitions. The artist died in Israel, where he moved with his family in 2001 at the age of 87. In 2012, a memorial exhibition of Grabovetsky’s works was organized in Netanya. It included some of Grabovetsky’s sketches of the war period.