'La Vengeance de Li-Tchaï - Grand film par P. Dmitrow' (Guignol #263, 15 October 1933).
Pierre Dmitrow, of whose name many different spellings circulate, was an early 20th-century French illustrator and painter of Russian descent. He published in several French illustrated children's magazines, of which some are notable for the use of sequential imagery and comics.
Life and career
Almost nothing is known about Pierre Dmitrow. He was born in 1883 as Pétrovitch Dmitroff in Russia, but later moved to France. He died in Paris in 1934.
In the early 20th century, Dmitrow illustrated a few stories published in magazines like Le Jeunesse Illustrée, Pierrot, La Sentinelle and Guignol, and also illustrated nowadays obscure novels by Jacques De Fervaques and Luigi Motta. In 1914, he illustrated a series of collectable cards depicting the Russian Imperial Army. Between 1928 and 1942, Dmitrow was one of several artists who illustrated adventure novels in the 'Printemps' collection of Éditions de Montsouris. Other artists who worked for this collection were Georges Bourdin, Davine, Émile Dot, Henri Ferran, Jan, Henry Le Monnier, Étienne Le Rallic, Louis Maîtrejean, Raymond de la Nézière and Jacques Souriau.
Opening panel for a "grand film" by P. Dmitrow in Guignol #279 (4 February 1934).
Dmitrow's illustrations for stories in Pierrot magazine, like the 1930 story 'La Belle Frousse', were notable for their use of sequences on one and the same page to visualize a humorous story. Most of his comics appeared in the magazine Guignol: Cinéma des Enfants, which presented stories in text comic format, with captions underneath the images, presented as a kind of "movies". Other creators who made comics for Guignol were Pierre d'Amerot, Jacques Angioux, Arsène Brivot, Jacques de Chateaulin, Maurice Cuvillier, Davine, F. Daniel, Georges Delaw, Michel Dorlys, Émile Dot, Henri Ferran, Gervy, René Louys, Marijac, Georges Olivier, Pouf, Maurice Radiguet, Gaël de Saillans, Pierre Soymier and Edmond Targis.
'Une Belle Frousse', illustrated by Pierre Disbrow and published in Pierrot magazine (1930).