Günther-Friedrich Reindorff (russian: Гю́нтер-Фри́дрих Ге́рманович Рейндорф ''Gyúnter-Frídrikh Gérmanovich Reyndorf''; 26 January 1889,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

– 14 March 1974,

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for publishe ...

, book

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

, and educator. He designed many

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the ...

s series, a large number of military insignia and

bookplate An ''Ex Libris'' (from ''ex-librīs'', ), also known as a bookplate (or book-plate, as it was commonly styled until the early 20th century), is a printed or decorative label pasted into a book, often on the front endpaper, to indicate ownership. ...

s, diplomas, various advertising sheets and

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...

in the late 1920s and early 1930s. His artistic style evolved under the influence of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Moder ...

and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

works by Sergey Chekhonin,

Ivan Bilibin Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin ( rus, Ива́н Я́ковлевич Били́бин, p=ɪˈvan ˈjakəvlʲɪvʲɪt͡ɕ bʲɪˈlʲibʲɪn; – 7 February 1942) was a Russian illustrator and stage designer who took part in the '' Mir iskusstva'', cont ...

, and other members of the Russian group ''

Mir iskusstva ''Mir iskusstva'' ( rus, «Мир искусства», p=ˈmʲir ɪˈskustvə, ''World of Art'') was a Russian magazine and the artistic movement it inspired and embodied, which was a major influence on the Russians who helped revolutionize Eu ...

.''

Life and career

Reindorff was born in

and moved to

with his family of German descent in 1897. In 1905, he enrolled in the von Stieglitz Art School in Saint Petersburg. He graduated from the art school in 1913. Reindorff lived in

RSFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

at the time of Lenin and worked at the National Printing Office of the Soviet rouble, but after a couple of years he moved to

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, because the Printing Office moved there. He returned to Estonia when the

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik wes ...

was over. Reindorff loved to hike and spent most of his days in the academy and later on even during the Soviet era, making graphic lithographies and sketches of landscape, designing book illustrations, Estonian banknotes and coins, including the whole kroon series used from 1928 to the end of the Republic in World War II, with the government going into exile in Sweden. He also designed some early Soviet roubles before the rise of Stalin and some postage stamps. Soviet authorities appointed him a

National Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR ( rus, Народный артист СССР, Narodny artist SSSR), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. Nomenclature and signific ...

(1969), and he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

(1958), during the period when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union.

Gallery

File:1921 CPA 5.jpg, RSFSR stamp, 1921, 5 r. File:RSFSR stamp 1921 250r.jpg, RSFSR stamp, 1921, 250 r. File:RSFSR stamp 1922 5000r.jpg, RSFSR stamp, 1922, 5000 r. File:RSFSR stamp 1922 10000r.jpg, RSFSR stamp, 1922, 10000 r. File:Alternative Coat of arms of Estonia 1922 Author Günther Reindorff.png, Alternative Coat of Arms of Estonia, 1922

References

External links

* 1889 births 1974 deaths Artists from Tallinn Baltic-German people Estonian people of German descent Estonian designers Estonian stamp designers People's Artists of the USSR (visual arts) People's Artists of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (visual arts) Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Burials at Metsakalmistu Estonian graphic designers {{Graphic-designer-stub