Petr Galadzhev was a graphic artist, designer, and actor born in Crimea in 1900. He studied at the Stroganov Central Industrial Art Institute in Moscow and later at the Studio of the Artistic-Educational Union of Workers’ Organizations in Moscow. He created commercial collages and renderings of drama, ballet, and cabaret productions which were often reproduced as covers or accompaniments to texts in theatrical journals. Galadzhev's work reflected the motifs of the Roaring Twenties, including commercial advertising, mass communication, and the nightlife of big cities. He was also a member of the Kuleshov collective, where he acted for free in Kuleshov’s classic film By the Law after the Soviet government cut Kuleshov’s funding due to the political content of his work.

Galadzhev worked on all aspects of film and theater production, from sets to props and costumes, and directed three films. He was made a Merited Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1965 and awarded the State Prize of the USSR for the film At the Lake in 1971. Galadzhev's work has been exhibited posthumously in Moscow and Cologne, and his sculptures were included in an exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery in London in 2014.