Oskar Schmerling

Oskar Schmerling (; , Stavropol, 1863 – Tiflis, 1938) was a Russian and Georgian illustrator of ethnic German background.

Early life Oskar Schmerling was born into a Lutheran German family in the North Caucasian city of Stavropol on . His family came to the Russian Empire on the wave of German emigration at the beginning of the 19th century. His father, Ivan, was a lieutenant colonel in the Imperial Russian Army. His mother Matilda was the sister of the architect Albert Salzmann, who designed a number of buildings in Tiflis, including the building of the Tbilisi Art Gallery. Growing up with his uncle, he studied in Tiflis Real School.

Education According to Schmerling's own autobiography, his academic results weren't good and he tried to publish a periodical named Mosquito unsuccessfully in 1880–1881. He later started drawing caricatures for Ivan Petroev's magazine Scorpion . After quitting his job, he went on to study at Faculty of Graphic Art newspaper during his time there.

Career After graduation in 1892, he returned to Tiflis and began teaching at Transcaucasian Girls' Institute. He illustrated Iakob Gogebashvili's children's book Mother Language (დედა ენა).

Schmerling was the uncle of the artist and set designer Alexander Von Salzman, who from 1917 created many caricatures for the Devils' Whip.