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Two original Soviet World War II propaganda posters published by the State Publishing House “Iskusstvo,” Moscow and Leningrad, both edited by E. Povolotskaya and issued in editions of 50,000. The first, 18.75 x 23.75, 1943, designed by Viktor Koretsky and gravure-printed at the “Gudok” printing house, shows a joyful peasant family gathered beneath a portrait of Stalin, a bearded man lifting a smiling child to touch the frame, as Red Army soldiers march past a red flag outside the window. The caption below reads, in full (translated): “On the joyous day of liberation from the yoke of the German invaders, the first words of boundless gratitude and love of the Soviet people are addressed to our friend and father, Comrade Stalin—the organizer of our struggle for the freedom and independence of our homeland.”
The second, 23.5 x 33, 1944, printed at the “Krasny Proletary” printing house, is signed in the image "Виктор Иванов-43" (Viktor Ivanov, 1943) and shows a smiling Red Army soldier in a fur ushanka, holding a PPSh submachine gun, as a woman in a fringed shawl embraces him, a Soviet flag flying over a snowy town behind them, above the slogan "Ты вернул нам жизнь!" (You have given us back our life!). In overall very good to fine condition, with intersecting folds, scattered creasing and marks, and edgewear. The larger poster is housed in a clear protective sleeve.
Both posters celebrate the liberation of Soviet territory as the Red Army drove German forces westward in 1943 and 1944, following the victories at Stalingrad and Kursk. Koretsky and Ivanov were among the most prominent Soviet poster artists of the war, and their designs were reproduced in large editions for display in liberated towns and villages.
