Kharkov, Ukraine, May 25, 1899 – New York, July 16, 1965
His parents were Mikhail Petrovich Artsybashev (1878-1927) and Anna Vasilyevna Kobushko. His father was a writer known for his 1907 novel “Sanin” and for his involvement with the anti-Bolshevik newspaper “For Liberty!”.
Boris fought in the Ukrainian army. In 1919 he left his homeland and moved to America, where he arrived on Ellis Island, New York, on June 17, 1919. During his early days in the United States, Artzybasheff worked as an illustrator and designed sets for Michel Fokine’s Russian ballet. and the Ziegfeld Theater. Naturalized as a United States citizen in 1925, he married Elizabeth Southard Snyder in New York City in February.
He continued to work as a book illustrator and advertiser. Fortune magazine commissioned Artzybasheff to cover the April 1941 issue. This cover illustration boosted his career as an advertising illustrator. He has made over 200 Time Magazine covers and numerous magazine ads.
Labeled as the “Master of the Machine Age,” his illustrations range from portraits of famous people to the anthropomorphism of machines. During his lifetime he won the John Newberry Award for Book Illustration and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
