Konstantin Pavlovich Rotov

Born Feb. 19 (Mar. 4), 1902, in Rostov-on-Don; died Jan. 16, 1959, in Moscow. Soviet graphic artist.

Rotov, who attended the Rostov School of Art, worked for magazines (from 1923, for Krokodit) and newspapers (from 1928, for Pravda). His illustrations (mainly of children’s books) and cartoons about daily living are noted for their comic situations. They are narrative and have a multitude of amusing details; the precisely outlined drawings are in two or three local colors.

Among the works Rotov illustrated are Il’f and Petrov’s The Golden Calf (published in 1931), Barto’s The House Has Moved (1938), A. Nekrasov’s The Adventures of Captain Vrungel (1939), Lagin’s Old Man Khottabych (1940), and Mikhalkov’s Uncle Stepa (1957) and The Three Little Pigs (1958).