Moor

(pseudonym of Dmitrii Stakhievich Orlov). Born Oct. 22 (Nov. 3), 1883, in Novocherkassk; died Oct. 24, 1946, in Moscow. Soviet graphic artist and one of the founders of the Soviet political poster. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1932).

Moor was basically self-taught. By 1917 he had become an accomplished master of caricature. From 1908 to 1917 he contributed to the satirical magazine Budil’nik (Alarm Clock), in which, through his drawings, he served the cause of the proletarian revolution.

During the Civil War of 1918–20, Moor produced eye-catching posters imbued with revolutionary fervor; such posters included “Soviet Turnip “(1919), “Have You Volunteered? “(1920), and “Wrangel Is Still Alive, Finish Him Off Without Mercy “(1920). After the war, Moor created posters, including “Help! “(1921–22), “Worker, Be Vigilant!” (1937), and “What Did You Do to Help the Front?“ (1941), and satirical cartoons for the newspaper Pravda (from 1920), and the magazines Krokodil (Crocodile; from 1922), Bezbozhnik u stanka (The Atheist at the Press; 1923–28), and U stanka (At the Press; 1924–25). Moor also made india-ink illustrations for H. Barbusse’s novel Under Fire (1938; now in the Tret’iakov Gallery) and for Mayakovsky’s poem All Right! (1940; now in the V. V. Mayakovsky Museum, Moscow).

Moor’s drawings are expressive and at times contain elements of the grotesque; the contours of his drawings sharply outline the flat color areas. In 1928 he became a member of the Oktiabr’ (October) Association. Moor taught at the State Higher Arts and Technical Studios and the State Higher Institute of Art and Technology (1922–30), the Moscow Institute of Printing (1930–32), and the Moscow Art Institute (1939–43). V. N. Goriaev, A. M. Kanevskii, F. P. Reshetnikov, and B. I. Prorokov were among his pupils.