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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case 1B, Box LS1

Kill Him!

Poster
1942 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Kukryniksy (an acronym of the names of its three members, Mikhail Kupriyanov (1903-post 1941), Porfiry Krylov (1902-ante 1941), and Nikolai Sokolov (1903-post 1941)) was a prolific collective of artists who specialised in biting satire. Tass Windows, published by the state news agency TASS, revived the Rosta Windows published by the Russian telegraph agency ROSTA during the Civil War. The decision to re-launch the Windows was taken by a meeting of the Union of Artists within two days of Hitler's invasion of Russia in 1941. Based on topical themes, Tass Windows were stencilled and then reproduced in up to 1000 copies in three or more colours. More than seventy artists were involved in their production over the course of the conflict, with up to twenty-four new Windows appearing per month at its height.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleKill Him! (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Colour lithograph
Brief description
Second World War poster lettered with verse by K. Simonov. Tass Window (no 527). USSR, 1942
Physical description
Nazi soldier depicted as a gorilla wielding a gun. At his feet are the dead bodies of women and children.
Dimensions
  • Height: 31.3cm
  • Width: 19.2cm
Marks and inscriptions
Cyrillic text
Translation
(from the Russian:) If you don't wish to give / To the German, with his black rifle / The home where you have lived, / your wife, and mother / All that we call Motherland; / Know that no one will save her /If you don't save her; / Know that no one will kill him,/ If you don't kill him.
Credit line
Gift of the American Friends of the V&A; Gift to the American Friends by Leslie, Judith and Gabri Schreyer and Alice Schreyer Batko
Subjects depicted
Places depicted
Summary
Kukryniksy (an acronym of the names of its three members, Mikhail Kupriyanov (1903-post 1941), Porfiry Krylov (1902-ante 1941), and Nikolai Sokolov (1903-post 1941)) was a prolific collective of artists who specialised in biting satire. Tass Windows, published by the state news agency TASS, revived the Rosta Windows published by the Russian telegraph agency ROSTA during the Civil War. The decision to re-launch the Windows was taken by a meeting of the Union of Artists within two days of Hitler's invasion of Russia in 1941. Based on topical themes, Tass Windows were stencilled and then reproduced in up to 1000 copies in three or more colours. More than seventy artists were involved in their production over the course of the conflict, with up to twenty-four new Windows appearing per month at its height.
Other number
LS.583 - Leslie Schreyer Loan Number
Collection
Accession number
E.281-2004

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Record createdJuly 5, 2004
Record URL
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