Yuri Annenkov. Yury Pavlovich Annenkov was a Russian artist mostly known for his book illustrations and portraits.
He also worked for theatre and cinema. A member of Mir Iskusstva.
In his essay On Synthetism, Yevgeny Zamyatin writes that has a keen awareness of the extraordinary rush and dynamism of our epoch. His sense of time is developed to the hundredth of a second.
He has the knack--characteristic of Synthetism--of giving only the synthetic essence of things. Yury Annenkov was born into a well-known family; his father, Pavel Annenkov was involved with revolutionary activities that led him to exile in Siberia.
The Annenkovs moved back to St. Petersburg in 1892. In 1908, Annenkov entered the University of St. Petersburg and attended Savely Seidenberg's studio classes, together with Marc Chagall. In 1911-1912, Annenkov moved to Paris to work in the studios of Maurice Denis and Félix Vallotton. In 1913, Annenkov worked in Switzerland. Upon his return to St. Petersburg in 1914, Annenkov mostly contributed to magazines and worked for theatres. Maxim Gorky's fairy-tale book, Samovar, published in 1917 was his first work as a book designer. His recognition as a book illustrator came in the wake of his most known work, designing Alexander Blok's poem, The Twelve, published in 1918 and gone through three printings within a year. In the next few years Annenkov designed numerous books for Petrograd