2-489-365 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Poster for an exhibition of Vladimir Mayakovsky's works, 1931. Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was a very popular poet of the early Soviet era. He defined his work as 'Communist Futurism'. He was also well known for his satirical agitprop posters. In the late 1920s Mayakovsky became increasingly disillusioned with the direction the Soviet Union was taking under Stalin and he committed suicide on 14 April 1930. Found in the collection of the State Central Literary Museum, Moscow.