Pavel Jakov Levitch Pavlinov was born Apr. 12, 1881, in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Pavlinov audited D. N. Kardovskii’s courses at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1903 to 1906. He was a member of the Moscow Society of Artists from 1914 and its chairman from 1918, as well as belonging to the Four Arts Association from 1924. He taught at Vkhutemas-Vkhutein (State Higher Arts and Technical Studios-Higher Art and Technical Institute) from 1921 to 1930 and was dean of the graphic arts department there from 1921 to 1924. He also taught at printing and art institutes in Moscow from 1930 to 1950.

Pavlinov’s works consisted primarily of woodcuts and wood engravings. A narrative quality and an interest in everyday life are combined in his work with a desire to subordinate the subject to the structure of the wood. Free, expressive strokes, which resemble flourishes or zigzags, introduce some dynamism into otherwise rather static compositions (illustrations for Pushkin’s The Mermaid, 1922, and for Ruffini’s Conspirators, 1928–29). He was the author of a number of portraits engraved on wood, which are distinguished by the originality of their psychological interpretation. His portraits include those of E. T. A. Hoffman (1922) and A. S. Pushkin (1924).

Pavlinov died Feb. 2, 1966, in Moscow.

From: The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979)