Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin, born on August 4, 1876, in Tarkhovka, St. Petersburg Province, and died on February 7, 1942, in Leningrad, was a renowned Russian artist, book illustrator, and theater designer.

In 1888, he entered the First St. Petersburg Classical Gymnasium, graduating in 1896 with a silver medal. In 1900, Bilibin completed his studies at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. He attended the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in 1895 and 1898. In 1898, he spent two months in the studio of artist Anton Azhbe in Munich. For several years from 1898 to 1900, he studied under Ilya Repin at the studio school of Princess Maria Tenisheva, and then in 1900 and 1904 under Repin at the Higher Art School of the Academy of Arts.

After the February Revolution, Bilibin created a sketch of the double-headed eagle, which was temporarily used as a symbol of the Russian Republic. In 1992, a similar drawing became the basis for the emblem of the Bank of Russia.

On February 21, 1920, Bilibin left Novorossiysk on the steamship 'Saratov'. Due to sick passengers on board, the ship did not disembark passengers in Constantinople or Famagusta in Cyprus, but arrived in Egypt, where Russian refugees were placed in a camp in Tel-el-Kebir under the management of the British authorities.

In February 1923, Bilibin married artist Alexandra Vasilievna Shchekatikhina-Pototskaya, who came to Cairo with their son Mstislav. In the summer of 1924, they traveled through Syria and Palestine, and in October 1924, they settled in Alexandria.

In 1936, Bilibin returned to the Soviet Union on the steamer 'Ladoga' and settled in Leningrad. He taught at the All-Russian Academy of Arts while continuing to work as an illustrator and theater artist.

After the start of the Great Patriotic War, Bilibin refused to evacuate and passed away in besieged Leningrad on February 7, 1942, in a hospital at the All-Russian Academy of Arts.