Maria Nesterova (Nesterova-Berzina) (1897–1965) was a Soviet poster artist and painter known for advertising, social, wartime and sports posters. Her work ranged from early constructivist-inspired advertising to the more detailed style of Soviet propaganda art of the postwar period.

Nesterova was born in Samarkand in 1897 and spent her childhood there. She began painting and producing agitational and mass-art works in the 1920s, making her first posters during this period. Her early work was influenced by Constructivism, and she produced advertising posters including Avtodor and Urtakskie Tabaki. In the late 1920s and 1930s, she also created a series of posters for the state tourism organisation Intourist.

Nesterova's Intourist posters promoted destinations, travel and leisure in the Soviet Union to foreign visitors. Her works included Crimea (1930), Holiday in the USSR (1930), Central Asia (1934), Hunting in the USSR (1935), Batumi (1936), Baku (1935–36), Summer Sports in the USSR (1936) and Odessa. These posters show the influence of Art Deco, with bold geometric forms, varied colours and highly stylised compositions. The Intourist commissions are regarded as among the most distinctive works of her career.

Nesterova also worked on posters devoted to sport, tourism and public campaigns. Her works included Everyone on Skis! (1940), Take Up Tourism! (1941), and a series of posters promoting physical education, gymnastics, cycling, water tourism and holidays. During the Second World War, she produced propaganda posters reflecting the themes of military mobilisation and the war effort. Among them were Papa, Kill the German! (1942), More Planes for the Front! (1942), Victory (1945), We Waited for This (1945), and The Soviet People Are Harder Than Steel.

After the war, Nesterova continued to work primarily in poster art and regularly participated in Soviet poster exhibitions. Her later work followed the established conventions of Soviet agitational art, with subjects including sport, tourism, elections, agriculture, industry and national celebrations. Posters such as Tourism Is the Best Recreation! (1946), Water Tourism Is the Best Recreation (1947), How Dear You Are to the Soldier, Native Russian Land! (1948), Long Live the All-Conquering Banner of Leninism! (1957), Rest and Fishing and Cycling demonstrate the breadth of these themes. Her postwar compositions often became more complex and densely detailed, while maintaining a strong emphasis on colour.

Nesterova was a member of the Union of Soviet Artists. Her posters are held in the Russian State Library, the State Museum of the Political History of Russia, the Military Historical Museum of Artillery, Engineers and Signal Corps, the State Museum of the History of St Petersburg and numerous regional museums across Russia, as well as private collections in Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. She died in Moscow in 1965.

Maria Aleksandrovna Nesterova-Berzina