In 1859 along with Vasily Kurochkin Stepanov co-founded and co-edited the satirical journal Iskra to which he contributed more than 1600 sketches and caricatures.

[1][2] The visual arts in Russia are rooted in lubok but this begins to change in the reign of Peter the Great that is an "alternate" tradition of social and political caricature.

Artists from western Europe contribute to this cultural shift by teaching at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.

Private art schools continue to operate in this era but artist's are for practical purposes dependent on state and imperial support for a living.

These uncensored lubki depicted the religious, literary and other themes and motifs of folklore common for this art form.