Nicolas Mordvinoff "Man With Horse"

Nicolas Mordvinoff was born in St. Petersburg, but moved to Paris at an early age following the onset of the Russian Revolution. There, he studied art with Fernand Leger and Amedee Ozenfant. After graduating from the University of Paris, he began publishing his illustrations in local publications. Following his immigration to the U.S. in 1946, he began collaborating with children’s author William Lipkind under the pen name “Will and Nicolas”. They would go on to create sixteen children’s books, including Finders Keepers. Thisstory of two dogs trying to decide which should get a found bone would win Mordvinoff the 1952 Caldecott Medal for his illustrations. Nicolas continued to illustrate until the mid-1960s, when he shifted his focus to painting, etching, and engraving, exhibiting these works in galleries around New York City and Paris.