Viktor Klimashin was a Soviet graphic artist known for his political and advertising posters, magazine illustrations, book designs, watercolours, and drawings. His early film posters drew on the graphic language of the Stenberg brothers and Nikolai Prusakov, while his later work ranged from wartime reportage to postage stamp designs and architectural exhibitions.

Born in 1912 in Tersa, Saratov Governorate, Klimashin studied at the Saratov Art Technical School from 1928 to 1931 under Boris Milovidov and Alexander Sapozhnikov. He began working in political and advertising posters in the early 1930s and became known for his film posters. From 1937, he illustrated and designed books for the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house and contributed to magazines including Smena, Vokrug Sveta, and Ogonyok. During the 1940s, he served as chief artist of Ogonyok and produced a series of well-known covers.

During the Second World War, Klimashin worked as a frontline correspondent, producing drawings from life and working with the M. B. Grekov Studio of Military Artists. In the 1950s, he concentrated increasingly on easel graphics and designed postage stamps. In 1954, he was chief artist of the Exhibition of Achievements of Economic and Cultural Construction of the USSR in Beijing. He later designed the Soviet pavilion for the International Industrial Exhibition in Bombay, and his travels in India resulted in a notable series of watercolours. He also wrote articles on visual art.

Klimashin died in Moscow in 1960, aged 48, and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star. His work is held in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, the Central Museum of the Armed Forces of Russia, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the Kursk Regional Art Gallery, and the Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Karelia, as well as private collections around the world,

Viktor Semenovich Klimashin