Günther-Friedrich Reindorff (; 26 January 1889 – 14 March 1974) was an Estonian

graphic designer A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming ...

, 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 complicate ...

, 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). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

s series, a large number of military insignia and bookplates, diplomas, various advertising sheets and

currency A currency 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 definition is that a currency is a ''system of money'' in common use within a specific envi ...

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

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

works by Sergey Chekhonin, Ivan Bilibin, and other members of the Russian group '' Mir iskusstva.''

Life and career

Reindorff was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and moved to

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

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), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

at the time of Lenin and worked at the National Printing Office of the

Soviet rouble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, r=rubl', p=rublʲ) was the currency of the Soviet Union. It was introduced in 1922 and replaced the Russian ruble#Imperial ruble (1704-1922), Imperial Russian ruble. One ruble was divided into 100 kopecks ...

, but after a couple of years he moved to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

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

Estonian War of Independence The Estonian War of Independence, also known as the War of Freedom in Estonia, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Soviet Russian westward offensive of 1918–1919 and the ...

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 (1969), and he was elected a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Fine Arts (1958), during the period when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union. He died in Tallinn.

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 Saint Petersburg People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd Estonian people of Baltic German descent Estonian designers Estonian stamp designers Estonian graphic designers Saint Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design alumni People's Artists of the USSR (visual arts) People's Artists of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic (visual arts) Honoured Workers of the Arts Industry of the Estonian SSR Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Badge of Honour Burials at Metsakalmistu 20th-century Estonian illustrators Advertising artists and illustrators {{Graphic-designer-stub