In the first period of the Civil War, when the Republic – s situation was particularly difficult, and the overwhelming majority of the Russian intellectuals were again supporting the enemies of Soviet power, or were holding aloof, waiting for the outcome, one of the first of them to give his talents to the service of the Revolution was the artist Moor (Dimitry Stakhnevich Orlov). [1]
Working continuously in the War Department from the beginning of 1919, Comrade Moor rendered immense services to the Red Army with his vivid brush and sharp pencil. The comrade Red Army men remember his revolutionary posters, which raised their fighting spirit and lit up the path of struggle.
In the course of his three years’ work, Comrade Moor gave the Red Army about 150 pictures and posters, which were reproduced in millions of copies, and a large number of drawings which were published in the journal Krasnoarmeyets and in separate booklets.
The Workers’ and Peasants’ Army values such devoted friends, and the Revolutionary War Council of the Republic, taking note of Comrade Moor’s services to the Revolution, expresses its gratitude to him for his heroic work with the weapons at his disposal – the pencil and the paintbrush.
1. ‘Moor’ is perhaps best known for a very striking poster he produced for the famine relief campaign in 1921. Between the wars he worked as a book-illustrator, and then again produced posters for the Army during the war of 1941-1945. He died in 1946.
Last updated on: 28.12.2006