Viktor Alexandrovich Chishikov

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Viktor Tschischikow (2012)
Mascot Misha on Soviet postage stamp

Viktor Alexandrowitsch Tschischikow ( Russian Виктор Александрович Чижиков ; born September 26, 1935 in Moscow ; † July 20, 2020 ) was a Russian illustrator and designer who achieved international fame through the Olympic mascot Misha he designed .

life and work

Tschischikow was born in Moscow in 1935. He started drawing as a child and published his first works in magazines during his school days. After leaving school, he studied at the Moscow Polygraphic Institute, now the Moscow State University of Printing. He completed his training in 1958. Since the mid-1950s he has drawn regularly for various Russian magazines and journals. In the 1960s, Chizhikov began to illustrate children's books. The authors he has worked with include Agnia Barto , Sergei Michalkow , Boris Sachoder , Samuil Marschak , Nikolai Nossow and Eduard Uspenski . In 1968 he became a member of the Russian Artists Association. In addition to the illustrations, Tschischikow also created several books of fairy tales for children himself.

The works of Viktor Tschischikow are exhibited in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow .

Tschischikow died on July 20, 2020 at the age of 84.

Misha

In 1977 the Organizing Committee of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow called for a competition to design a mascot in the shape of a Russian bear for the event. Tschischikow designed over 100 bears within a month and submitted them to the competition. In total, over 40,000 mascot suggestions were submitted to the committee. In August 1977 the 64 favorites were presented in an exhibition in Moscow. The then President of the International Olympic Committee , Lord Killanin , chose a design by Chishikov as the official mascot of the Olympic Games. The figure of Mischa became internationally known during and after the games and was used for advertising purposes. According to his own statements, Chizhikov received around 2,000 rubles for his work (the average monthly income at that time was around 120 rubles).

Web links

Commons : Viktor Alexandrowitsch Tschischikow  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ V. Ivanova: Victor Chizhikov. Russia-InfoCentre, accessed July 28, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Creator of 1980 Moscow Olympic Bear Mascot Dies at 84. The Moscow Times, July 20, 2020, accessed on July 21, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Irina Varlamova: Bear necessity: Designing a mascot for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Rossiyskaya Gazeta, July 19, 2016, accessed July 28, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Tschischikow, Viktor Alexandrovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chizhikov, Victor Aleksandrovich; Чижиков, Виктор Александрович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soviet and Russian illustrator, author and designer
DATE OF BIRTH September 26, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Moscow
DATE OF DEATH 20th July 2020