Vladimir Chambers was born in 1877 or 1878 in St Petersburg, Russian Empire (now Russia), to an Irish father and English mother, studying art at the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts and at Princess Maria Tenisheva's Art Studio. He was known primarily for his designs for books, periodicals and postcards, book plates and political cartoons. Following the turbulent events of the 1917 October Revolution, Chambers immigrated to England, where he worked as a costume and set designer.
Graphic artist and theatre designer, Vladimir Chambers was born in 1877 or 1878 in St Petersburg, Russian Empire (now Russia), to an Irish father and English mother. He studied art at the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts and at Princess Maria Tenisheva's Art Studio, under prominent Russian painter Ilya Repin. During the 1910s Chambers served as keeper at the Baron Alexander von Stieglitz Museum in St Petersburg (currently The St Petersburg Stieglitz State Academy of Art and Design). In March 1917 he became a member of the Committee on the Art Industry and Crafts within the Artists' Union, SDI, founded in Petrograd (the name given to St Petersburg during 1914-24) earlier in the same year. Chambers was known primarily for his designs for books, book plates, periodicals, postcards, and political cartoons. He was also appointed art editor of Zhurnal dlia Vsiekh [Journal for Everyone], published between 1895 and 1906. Chambers also worked in theatre set design and regularly exhibited his works with the Union of Russian Artists (1906–10), one of the largest exhibiting societies active in Russia during the 1910s, and with the progressive Mir Iskusstva [The World of Art] society (1911, 1912 and 1916).
After the October Revolution of 1917, Chambers, a White Russian, left Russia for England, where he was allowed to settle permanently because of his mother's English roots. His sister, Maria Chambers-Bilibina (Mary), herself a graphic artist, had been based in England since 1914 and was, prior to that (1902–11), married to prominent Russian book illustrator, set designer and member of The World of Art group, Ivan Bilibin. In 1919 Chambers became a member of the Charity Committee, founded in London by the Russo-British Fraternity to raise funds to support the inhabitants of Russian regions released from Bolshevik power. Not much is known about Chambers' life and artistic work in Britain. In 1920, with his sister, he designed the costumes for Theodore Komisarjevsky’s fantasy burlesque A Doll’s Romance, performed at London's Duke of York’s Theatre. The Times noted that the production was ‘delightfully conceived and delightfully carried out by members of Mme. Astatieva’s dancing company, but it owed not a little of its success to the costumes of Mme. Bilibina and Vladimir Chambers […]’ (The Times 1920, p. 14). In the same year he designed the scenery for Nicolas Evreinoff’s Merry Death which took place at the Wigmore Hall in central London as part of a larger series of cultural events organised by the Russian art society Lahda.
Vladimir Chambers died in London, England in 1934. His work is not currently represented in UK public collections.