A portrait painter, illustrator, and cartoonist, Constantin Alajálov was born in Rostov, Russia, in a well-off family. His brief studies at the University of Petrograd ended when the Russian Revolution broke out. He traveled around the country with a group of artists, painting posters and murals for the Soviet government; went to Iran (then called Persia) and Turkey; and then immigrated to the U.S. in 1923. His satiric cartoons appeared regularly in The New Yorker, The Saturday Evening Post, and Vogue among other magazines. His best known cover illustrations were for Vanity Fair from the late 1920s into the 1960s, and The New Yorker.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/28/obituaries/constantin-alajalov-is-dead-was-painter-and-illustrator.html
http://www.curtispublishing.com/bios/Alajalov.shtml
