Lives of the Saints
Religious themes surface across many strands of modern art. While manga and comics may not draw directly from Russian icon painting, the tradition of hagiographic icons in Orthodox art shares a similar storytelling approach. The saint stands at the center, depicted in accordance with strict canons, surrounded by scenes from the saint’s life. This form traveled to Russia from Byzantium, taking root in the 9th century. Traditionally, readers followed the upper row of scenes first, then moved from left to right to explore the side panels and finally the bottom sections.
In Byzantium, especially in Sinai, hagiographic icons were often large and served as local church images. They were placed to the left and right of the Royal Doors in the iconostasis that leads to the altar. Russians loved these icons for generations, though none of the pre‑Mongol examples has survived to the present. The oldest surviving Russian icon is Elijah in the Wilderness with Life and Deesis, painted in the late 13th century. Created before Nikon’s reforms, it is not considered canonical by modern worship and rests in the Tretyakov Gallery. Elijah remains a highly revered Old Testament prophet, whose life unfolded during King Ahab’s reign. Legend tells of a queen who forced him to renounce Yahweh worship and attempted to promote a Phoenician cult of Baal. Elijah argued with the king, confronted pagan priests, led a devout life, and was ultimately taken to heaven.
In the central panel, Elijah stands in exile, listening to the desert wind where God reveals himself. Fourteen episodes recount the prophet’s journey, including the widow of Sarepta sheltering him during exile, his confrontations with Ahab, the contest against Baal’s priests, the crossing of the Jordan on dry land, and the ascent into heaven.
A later, better-preserved icon from the 14th century depicts Saint Nicholas the Miracle Worker, highlighting the saint’s miracles and key moments in his life.
Some icons may not illustrate a single event but rather convey an aspect of the saint’s life or reveal personality traits. Although the text was not printed in clouds, brief subtitles helped guide viewers. The images circling the center often symbolize the saint’s halo of glory, conveying a broader spiritual aura rather than a single narrative moment.
New era comics
Lubki are simple illustrated prints with brief captions and a strong, compact storyline. They did not originate in Russia but arrived from Europe, where they began in the 15th century. In Russia they were first called German or Fryazhsky fun sheets and borrowed plots. They were printed on rough lut sheets, using cheap paper, with flat tones that were then traced along the outlines. Later printing evolved to metal plates for mass production.
Even before Peter the Great, authorities attempted to curb this lively form of expression, ensuring settling depictions of rulers and avoiding moral perversions. Censorship existed, yet fairs still offered a wide range of prints. Under Peter the Great, popular printing faded among the nobility but remained common among peasants and townsfolk. In 1721, the state restricted printing to licensed private houses. By the 19th century, peasants embraced popular prints, decorating almost every home. The aristocracy and professional artists viewed them as cheap, but the long popularity helped popular art become a symbol of something distinctly Russian.
Not all prints bore a signature. What mattered was a bright image and a simple, engaging plot about peasant life, fairy tales, animals, political satire, or humor. The captions were short and direct. Yet some works carried veiled satire or metaphor that only specialists of the period could decode today. For instance, the popular print Mice are burying a cat is thought to mock Tsar Peter I, suggested by the brass band that performed at his funeral and the line about faces found in old greenhouses clinging to the greenhouses like mice burying a cat, bidding farewell to enemies and honoring the fallen. The imagery hints at discontent with reforms and the heavy burden of service on nobles during his rule.
A late 18th-century print shows a barber and a bearded man from Peter I’s era. The caption records a separatist stating he will not cut his beard and will protest loudly instead.
Late 19th-century prints shift in tone, appearing less like popular leaflets and more like ordinary images. One example is PI Orekhov’s lithograph The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish, where the main text sits at the bottom and short captions accompany the pictures.
Funny Pictures
From its early days, Soviet Russia aimed to reach the broadest possible audience, placing great emphasis on visual propaganda. Propaganda posters and political cartoons may not be comics in the traditional sense, yet they share a clear, direct style. The Kukryniksy group excelled in this genre, producing sharp portraits of capitalist plots, threats from the NATO bloc, and wartime propaganda from the Great Patriotic War era.
Humor about Soviet society is less common but still present. One work imagines angels lifting a dubious lecturer who represents scientific communism to heaven for failing to persuade, while another portrays a faceless bureaucrat who is merely an office accessory. The children’s magazine Funny Pictures often looked like Western comics, featuring characters such as Karandash, Samodelkin, Buratino, and Chipollino in humorous or adventurous predicaments. The magazine avoided censorship, allowing the era’s best writers and artists to appear. There were stories of avoidance in printing a portrait of the late Leonid Brezhnev, as authorities felt a mourning image would undermine the magazine’s cheerful identity. The magazine remains published today, though its popularity has waned compared to earlier decades.
Modern Russian publishing continues to explore comics, with many titles drawing on Western traditions and the superhero genre in particular.