Little is known about Boris Artzybasheff.

He was born in Kharkiv, Russia (now in Ukraine) in 1899. The original spelling of his last name was Artzybahev and his father was Mikhail Petrovich. He was a soldier in the White Army, an anti-Bolshivick army and probably fought in the October Revolution of 1917. As you will see in his work, Boris has a bone to pick with totalitarian governments! He headed off to New York City in 1919. With $.14 to his name and not knowing a blurb of English, he worked for a couple of years in an engravers shop. His first published as an illustrator in 1922 in a book called Verotchka's Tales. A second book, The Undertakers Garland quickly followed. Nothing is known of his education, but it is apparent in these early works that he has a keen sense of composition and layout. Boris went on to illustrate upwards to 50 books, some he wrote, his most notable book is called "As I See". He also was a an in demand illustrator for advertising and magazines. His most famous work is his Time Magazine covers, producing over 200 covers between 1941 and 1965, but he also illustrated covers for Life, Harpers, Fortune. His anthropomorphic illustrations also garnered him nome notoriety with a cover story in Mechanics Illustrated in 1954 called "When Machines Come To Life". Boris was a prolific illustrator up to his death in 1965 but the shame of shames is that his work is all but invisible to a generation of illustrators. One sliver of hope though, in 2004 an illustration of R. Buckminster Fuller graced a U.S. postage stamp, perhaps this woke a few people up!