Valentin Petrovich Viktorov was a prolific poster artist, illustrator and graphic designer. From 1927 to 1931, he studied at the Moscow State Technical School of Fine Arts in Memory of the 1905 Revolution (A.K.A. Moscow Institute for the Decorative and Applied Arts). During the 1920s, he became a member of AKhRR (Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia). His poster-designing career commenced in the 1930s and continued until his death in 1981.

During the Second World War, Valentin Viktorov was called-up for military service and after the war, he began his long-time collaboration with numerous state-owned publishing houses, principally working for Iskusstvo (Art Publishing House), Izogiz (State Publishing House of Fine Art) and Izobrazitel’noe Iskusstvo (Fine Art Publishers). Viktorov designed posters with themes covering aviation, space exploration, locomotive transportation, anniversaries of the October Revolution and many other subjects. Starting in 1954, the artist worked with the All-Union Chamber of Commerce - an entity for Soviet exhibitions abroad - whereby he produced exhibition designs in Vienna, Damascus, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Milan, Shanghai and Oklahoma.