Vladimir Ivanovich Serdyukov was a Soviet graphic artist, illustrator, engraver and painter known primarily for his woodcuts of Leningrad. He worked in both black-and-white and colour woodcut, depicting the city's streets, architecture, bridges and waterways. His best-known subjects include Palace Square, the Staro-Kalininsky Bridge and the Summer Garden.

Born in Alma-Ata in 1924, Serdyukov was drafted into the Red Army in 1942 and served as a signalman on the Western Front. He was wounded twice and fought through Kursk, Warsaw, Prague and Berlin.

He received the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War and the Medal for Courage, among other military decorations. He began drawing at the front and entered the Alma-Ata Art School after the war, graduating from its graphics department in 1949.

In 1949, Serdyukov moved to Leningrad and entered the graphic department of the Academy of Arts, where he studied under Mikhail Taranov. He specialised in woodcut and went on to work extensively in book and magazine illustration.

He collaborated with Soviet publishers including Children's Literature, Soviet Writer and Fiction, and illustrated books by a number of Soviet writers. His work also included illustrations and covers for magazines, as well as graphic works on the subject of the Second World War.

Leningrad remained the main subject of Serdyukov's personal work. He regularly worked from life, making sketches that later became the basis for his woodcuts. His architectural subjects were treated as more than documentary views of the city, combining buildings and streets with people, vegetation and everyday activity.

In the 1970s he produced woodcuts for *Literary Memorable Sites of Leningrad*, based on sketches by his wife, the artist Nina Novoselskaya. In 1984, he and his son Nikolai Serdyukov published *Leningrad: 20 Woodcuts*, a portfolio of colour prints.

Serdyukov also taught drawing as an associate professor at the Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute and the Leningrad Higher Art and Industrial School named after V. I. Mukhina. He died in Saint Petersburg in 2003, aged 79.