Yevgeny Kamzolkin

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Ivanovich and the family name is Kamzolkin.

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Ilyich and the family name is Levitan.

Yevgeny Ivanovich Kamzolkin (Russian: Евгений Иванович Камзолкин; 19 February 1885 – 18 March 1957)^[1] was a Russian and Soviet artist-decorator, photographer, and creator of the hammer and sickle symbol later used in the State emblem of the Soviet Union.

Yevgeny Kamzolkin
Born	Yevgeny Ivanovich Kamzolkin 19 February 1885 Moscow, Russian Empire
Died	18 March 1957 (aged 72) Pushkino, Soviet Union

Biography

Born into the family of a Moscow merchant Ivan Vasilyevich Kamzolkin, Kamzolkin was the grandson of a serf and grew up without a father.^{[citation needed]} Between 1904 and 1912 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under the tutorship of Abram Arkhipov and Nikolay Kasatkin. In 1907, he exhibited work at the International Photography Exhibition in Turin.^[2]

In 1918, he proposed a 'hammer and sickle' symbol as a decoration for the May Day celebrations in the Zamoskvorechye District of Moscow.^[3] Other designs that were rejected included a hammer with an anvil, a plough with a sword and scythe with a wrench.^{[citation needed]}

After the October Revolution he worked on sets for many productions in a Zamoskvorechye theatre, including The Death of Ivan the Terrible by A. K. Tolstoy.^{[citation needed]} During the 1920s, he lived in Pushkino. There he taught arts and crafts to the Pushkin musical and artistic labour colony. Between 1935 and 1936 he participated in the design of the Novosibirsk railway station.

He died in Pushkino.