Victor Ivanoff was a Russian born artist and the son of a Russian Cossack General. After the anti communist troops left Russia in 1920, his family fled to Yugoslavia where Victor would eventually study architecture at the University of Zagreb. Realizing he did not enjoy studying architecture, he joined what is known as the Don Cossack choir that toured around the world. The group made their way to South Africa and this is when Ivanoff decided to stay there. As a self taught cartoonist, his first job was at an Afrikaans newspaper Die Vaderland doing caricatures of then parliament members. These were called anti Smuts and it is said that Ivanoff’s cartoons were so influential, the United Party blamed him for their loss in 1948. He was very popular among the Russians in South Africa
Although he was well known for his cartoons, he was also an artist and wanted to be remembered as such. He even took painting lessons. He was considered a “social realist” with realism being his major focus. He worked with oils, sepia tints. Most of his work featured landscapes, people, and animals. In particular, horses. He did several group and solo exhibitions. He died in 1997.