Zarubin illustrations. Good New Year cards from Vladimir Zarubin

The bright author's style of Vladimir Ivanovich is unmistakably recognizable to anyone who has seen his postcards at least several times. All of us, “born in the USSR,” all of our families, received postcards from different parts of the country on almost every holiday with incomparable and charming bunnies, squirrels, bear cubs and hedgehogs. Each card contains a sweet little scene with carefully drawn details. Each face has its own expression that corresponds to the plot. They look like they're alive. This is probably why we love V.I.’s works so much. Zarubina.

About the artist:

Vladimir Ivanovich Zarubin (08/07/1925 – 06/21/1996)

Born in the village of Andriyanovka, Oryol region. Participated in the Great Patriotic War. According to the story of his son, at the beginning of the war he lived with his parents in Lisichansk, from where, when the city was captured by German troops, he was driven to Germany and worked in a labor camp in the Ruhr, from where he was liberated by American troops.

After the war, from 1945 to 1949 he served as a rifleman in the commandant's office of the Soviet Army. In 1949 he began his career as an artist. At first he worked as an artist at the Ministry of Coal Industry (until 1950), from 1950 to 1958 he was an artist at a plant (now NPO Giperon).

In 1956 he entered the Moscow Evening Secondary School, from which he graduated in 1958. In parallel with his studies, he took courses for animators at the Soyuzmultfilm film studio and at the University of Marxism-Leninism MGK CPSU.

From 1957 to 1982 he worked as an animator at Soyuzmultfilm, taking part in the creation of about a hundred hand-drawn animated films. At the end of the 1970s he was admitted to the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR.

Vladimir Zarubin is also known as an artist of greeting cards (mainly with cartoon themes), drawings on envelopes, calendars, etc. His works are valued by collectors. Collecting Zarubin's postcards is an independent topic in philocarty. In 2007, a catalog of postcards by Vladimir Zarubin was published.

You've probably seen colorful Soviet New Year's cards, which with their cuteness leave even cat videos far behind. They were created by the wonderful Russian artist Vladimir Ivanovich Zarubin. Few people know how interesting the fate of this amazing man was.

Volodya was born in a small village Andriyanovka Alekseevsky village council of Pokrovsky district Oryol region. There were three children in the family: the eldest son was drawn to technology, the middle one wrote poetry, and the youngest son loved to draw since childhood. Volodya's parents had a large collection of postcards and books with reproductions of paintings. My father was a representative of the working intelligentsia, worked as an engineer at a factory and bought books with pictures, which the children loved very much. Volodya looked at the paintings of old masters for a long time, listening to the explanations of the adults, and tried to draw something himself. One of his first drawings delighted the villagers so much that the picture began to be passed from hand to hand. The boy was only 5 years old, but probably one of his fellow villagers predicted his future as an artist.

The family moved to the city in Ukraine Lisichansk, where a large-scale industrial production cluster was created in the Soviet years. Life in the city promised great prospects for the already grown-up sons, but then the war began. Nazi troops invaded the territory of the USSR. Volodya's eldest sons went to the front to fight the aggressor, and Volodya, who was barely 16 years old, fell into occupation. After which he was hijacked by the Germans to Germany. There he ended up in a “labor camp” at one of the factories in the city of Ruhr.

Cruelty, bullying, meager food, fear of execution - this is how the childhood of the future artist ended. For several years Volodya was in labor slavery in a foreign country. In 1945, he and other prisoners were released by American troops. Immediately after his liberation, Vladimir wanted to return home and, having moved to the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, went to serve in the Soviet army. From 1945 to 1949 he served as a rifleman in the commandant's office. After demobilization, he moved to Moscow for permanent residence and got a job as an artist at one of the factories. Here begins the story of his success and future national fame.

One day, while reading a magazine, he saw an advertisement for enrollment in animator courses at the Soyuzmultfilm film studio. Vladimir became eager to master this profession and began studying. From 1957 to 1982 he worked as a cartoonist at Soyuzmultfilm. From his pen came the images of characters from about 100 cartoons, including his favorites: “Well, Just Wait,” “Mowgli,” “In the Footsteps of the Bremen Town Musicians,” “The Secret of the Third Planet” and many others.

At the same time, the artist began to try his hand at postal miniatures. In 1962, his first postcard was issued with the symbol of that time - a cheerful astronaut.



Subsequently, Vladimir Ivanovich illustrated many books, but his main love remained postcards. In Soviet times, dozens of them were brought to every home - the tradition of congratulating relatives, friends, teachers, classmates, former neighbors by mail was established and beloved.

Quite quickly, Zarubin’s postcards became the most popular in the country. People asked for them at the post office, queues lined up for them in stores, and children, of course, collected these postcards and wrote letters to the artist. Surprisingly, he found time to answer. The kindest artist in the country was also a very kind person. When Vladimir Ivanovich was asked what was the main thing in his work, he invariably answered: “Maybe my postcards will help people become a little kinder.”

Their total circulation, including envelopes and telegrams, amounted to 1,588,270,000 copies. At the end of the 1970s he was admitted to the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR.

This is truly a wonderful artist from God, the warmth of his heart was reflected in his work. And now people are touched by the simple beauty of his works; Vladimir Zarubin’s postcards are valued among collectors. But most importantly, his cards really bring joy to people. It’s worth looking at a perky, cheerful little squirrel or a hare peeking out from under the tree with a gift, and a person feels a surge of New Year’s mood.

I would like to give all the readers of my blog a New Year's mood. And, it seems to me that there is nothing better than eating a tangerine and looking at the paintings created by such a talented and kind person. With coming!

Good New Year cards from Vladimir Zarubin.

Everyone remembers this artist’s postcards; at one time they sold millions of copies throughout the Soviet Union.

And they were drawn by Vladimir Ivanovich Zarubin (1925-1996), an animator at the Soyuzmultfilm film studio. He has made 103 animated films, including the first releases of “Well, Just Wait!” and “The Adventures of Vasya Kurolesov”, “The Secret of the Third Planet” and “Once Upon a Time There Was a Dog”. Of the ten parts of Mowgli, two and a half are by Zarubina. The detective in The Town Musicians of Bremen is also his.

Each postcard from Zarubin is a little fairy tale, more often a New Year’s or birthday card; patriotic themes were not close to him. Once he tried to draw a May Day picture, but it didn’t work...

Vladimir Ivanovich sincerely loved all his heroes. Once at the artistic council they were looking at this postcard of his for March 8th. Only the lollipop was not criticized by Soviet officials. The hedgehog was wearing boots (it’s snowing in March, it’s cold!), but members of the artistic council demanded to take off the boots (where have you seen a hedgehog in shoes?!). Zarubin redrawn the postcard, but he felt sorry for the hedgehog and, so that his paws would not freeze, he raised one of his legs and placed the other on his toe...

Today, Zarubin's postcards are valued by collectors - collecting his works is an independent topic in philocarty.

ZARUBIN Vladimir Ivanovich(1925-1996). Russian Soviet artist. Born in the Oryol region. There were three children in the family: the eldest son was drawn to technology, the middle one wrote poetry, and the youngest Volodya loved to draw since childhood. Perhaps this was facilitated by the large collection of postcards and books with reproductions of paintings that my father, a travel engineer, brought to the house. Volodya looked at the paintings of old masters for a long time, listening to the explanations of the adults, and tried to draw something himself. One of his first drawings delighted the villagers so much that the picture began to be passed from hand to hand. The boy was only 5 years old, but probably one of his fellow villagers predicted his future as an artist.

During the Great Patriotic War, the older brothers went to the front, and Volodya, who was not even 17 years old, was driven to Germany. There he worked in a “labor camp” at one of the factories in the Ruhr. Cruelty, bullying, meager food, fear of execution - this is how the childhood of the future artist ended.

In 1945, Vladimir was released, but remained in the Soviet occupation zone, where he served in the army for several years. After demobilization, he got a job as an artist at one of the Moscow factories. One day he came across an advertisement for animator courses at the Soyuzmultfilm film studio. Vladimir Ivanovich decided to try and went to study. Subsequently, from his pen came the images of the heroes of about 100 cartoons, including his favorites: “Well, Just Wait,” “Mowgli,” “In the Footsteps of the Bremen Town Musicians,” “The Secret of the Third Planet” and many others.

At the same time, the artist began to try his hand at postal miniatures. In 1962, his first postcard was issued with the symbol of that time - a cheerful astronaut.

Here is from his memoirs: “Since childhood, I have really loved animals and birds. And now there is a feeder with lard on the balcony. In the morning, a woodpecker flew in... As far as I remember, my first drawing in my life is connected with animals and with... a smile: a horse is running, and “apples” are falling from under its tail. I was five years old at the time, and this drawing passed from hand to hand all over the village. It was there, in a rural house, that he first became familiar with art. Father brought a lot of books on painting, had a good (and by the standards of rural areas, simply wonderful) - five thousand copies - collection of postcards.”

In 1949, Vladimir Ivanovich began his career as an artist: he worked at the Ministry of Coal Industry, then at a factory. In 1956, he entered the Moscow Evening Secondary School, parallel to his studies, taking courses for animators at the Soyuzmultfilm film studio. Since 1957, Zarubin worked as an animator at Soyuzmultfilm, taking part in the creation of about a hundred hand-drawn animated films.

The artist devoted all his strength to his favorite work. In 1973, he received the title of winner of a social competition at the studio and had his first heart attack. The fact is that the work of a Soviet animator was only art on one side, and on the other hand it was equated to the same production with a plan, invoices, outfits, and so on. In addition, his passion, honesty and openness often ran into traditional intrigue and cronyism. Only in the late 1970s, Zarubin was accepted into the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR, but he was often called the best animator in the country.

Zarubin himself believed that he took up creating postcards and envelopes relatively late: “You know, I wanted to find an outlet, because the work of an animator is exhausting and nervous. So I tried my hand first in “Crocodile”, “Kid”, “Izogiz”. The first postcard was published under the editorship of Yuri Ryakhovsky. He helped me find myself in the postal schedule. And the little animals - bear cubs, hares, hedgehogs, as well as gnomes and other heroes - are mine, only mine.

They are truly recognizable and have their own unique face. It was precisely because of this originality that I had difficulties at artistic councils. Well, this is back in “those” times. They would sometimes look at a sketch and begin to analyze it from a socialist realist perspective: “Where have you seen a dog walking on two legs?”, or: “What kind of bear would shout “Aw!” in the forest?” How can you explain? Or here’s the story with a spring card in which Hedgehog presents Hedgehog with a candy rooster. He was wearing my boots, so the artistic council forced Hedgehog to take his shoes off. I remade the postcard, but I felt sorry for the Hedgehog - is it easy to be barefoot in the March snow? So I raised one of his paws so that he wouldn’t freeze...

In previous years, quite a few of my postcards and envelopes, as they say, were fluffed up for nothing at the artistic council.”

Many years later, Zarubin left the studio and started working at home.

“It’s nice, of course, that people don’t ignore my work,” said Vladimir Ivanovich. “They write, ask me to draw more, and the most active ones suggest stories.” It helps, but only morally. It’s generally difficult for me to work on orders. I invent everything myself. But I always want to draw. Even if I’m sick, I just lie down and think. I first “roll” a postcard or envelope in my head so that then everything transfers to paper very quickly. But then I sometimes redraw the plots several times: when I finish, it’s as if I’ll take a closer look - no, not quite right. I undertake to add and remove details of the drawing again. A little fairy tale in a drawing..."

In the early 1990s, the artist began working full-time with one small publishing house. Over time, it grew, mainly thanks to Zarubin's work, but soon the publisher began to delay payment, and then stopped paying altogether, demanding new postcards. This went on for over a year. On June 21, 1996, Vladimir Ivanovich was informed by telephone that “the company had gone bankrupt.” A few hours later the artist died.

Zarubin's postcards were very popular among his contemporaries: they were copied for wall newspapers, copied for shop windows, and bought not only for mailing, but also for their own collection. These postcards continue to be collected today, and in 2007 a whole catalog of his postal miniatures was published. The total circulation of Zarubin's postal miniatures, including envelopes and telegrams, amounted to 1,588,270,000 copies. Vladimir Ivanovich Zarubin painted them until the last day of his life

The kindest artist in the country was undoubtedly a very kind person. When Vladimir Ivanovich was asked what was the main thing in his work, he invariably answered: “I draw envelopes and postcards with my little animals, hoping for the most important thing: maybe this will help people become a little kinder.”

The artist has passed away, but his works continue to live in albums, in boxes, like mine, and in memories. They still have warmth and kindness, the sly look of their creator and a kind smile.

I hope that after viewing these cards you also smiled, which means that this world has become a little brighter. With coming!

Elena Starkova, especially for iledebeaute.ru

In general, we can talk about Zarubin and his work ad infinitum. For the modern generation born after 1990, his name is little familiar. But those who care will easily remember his colorful postcards, which the citizens of the great country so loved to give each other during the Soviet Union. The Internet, as you understand, in those distant times was only in the projects of the American military, so the paper industry of the country of the Soviets worked, among other things, to create miniature masterpieces for postal items. However, let's take it in order.

Vladimir Zarubin was born in 1925 in the village of Andriyanovka, Oryol region, into the family of a road engineer. Due to the specific nature of his father’s work, the family of the future artist constantly wandered around the country and the beginning of the war found them in the city of Lisichansk. The Germans who occupied the city drove Vladimir and other teenagers to Germany to a labor camp near the Ruhr, where he had to work until liberation by the Allied forces in 1945... After that, Zarubin joined the Army, but from then on his favorite pastime was drawing. After demobilization, he went to work at a factory in Moscow where he met his future wife. His love for drawing led Zarubin to take courses for animators, after which he devoted himself entirely to his favorite pastime. Zarubin worked in many genres of fine art, but is most remembered for creating his signature characters in Soviet animation. It was he who participated in the creation of the first issues" Wait for it!", "Bremen Town Musicians"(remember the Ingenious Detective?), Mowgli and more than a hundred animated films!

In Soviet times, such useful bookmarks were produced for textbooks.