Kadulin, Vladimir Fedorovich (1884-1957)

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Kadulin attended art schools in Moscow and Kiev, then turned to a career as a cartoonist for one of Petrograd’s leading newspapers. Postcard versions of his cartoons became very popular. His work seems to have been a mix of political and social satire—for example a “drunken series” or “student types”—and it seems likely that his irreverent sense of humor is what led him to flee the Soviet Union. At this point information becomes scarce. In 1924, five of Kadulin’s caricatures appeared in a New York Times story on “Festivals and Parades in Russia”; lacerating images of (for example) a “Red Army Soldier in Full Regalia,” bottles of alcohol in each hand, suggest that he was deeply critical of the new regime. There is record of Kadulin being hired in 1926 by a new Tampa restaurant named Katinka to create interior and exterior wall murals using his talent for caricature. It’s quite possible that he lived in Tampa for a period: he traveled to Florida by way of Cuba in 1930, was married in Havana 1931, then traveled again to Florida 1932. Kadulin became a US citizen in 1938. As of 1942 he was living in New York City, then in New Rochelle as a commercial artist. 42 caricatures at Wikimedia. 5 more images at FAP.

Sources consulted: Anna Louise Strong, “Festivals and Parades in Russia,” New York Times 26 Oct. 1924: 132.

Works in the New Deal Collection at GVCA by Vladimir Kadulin: