To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

An animatronic polar bear visits the London Underground on January 23, 2015, to mark the launch of Fortitude, Sky Atlantic&Otilde's new drama starring Stanley Tucci, Michael Gambon and Christopher Ecclestone, which premieres on Thursday 29th January at 9pm. A team of 19 Hollywood prop specialists spent six weeks designing and building the realistic replica animal with six to eight people working on the costume at any one time, using over 60 different materials. (Photo by David Parry/PA Wire)

These adorable images of new born polar bears are bound to warm the hearts of even the biggest Ba-humbugs this Christmas. The stunning collection of photographs, taken over the space of ten years, manage to capture the tender bond between both mother and child as they emerge from their den for the very first time. Here: a Polar bear with its cub. (Photo by David Jenkins/Caters News)

A polar bear plays with a pylon during celebrations marking its first birthday in an enclosure at Tierpark Hellabrunn zoo in Munich December 9, 2014. (Photo by Michaela Rehle/Reuters)

A Kamchatka Brown Bear cub eats frozen fruits during a Christmas feeding session at Hagenbecks zoo in Hamburg, northern Germany on December 5, 2014. (Photo by Fabian Bimmer/Reuters)

An artiste leads a bear as a child sits on it during the first day of a fair organized by GUM departmental store for the upcoming Christmas and New Year celebrations at Moscow's Red Square, November 29, 2014. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

A family of baby brown bears appear to be dancing to Ring a Ring o' Roses as their mother relaxes behind a tree nearby. At just a few months old, two young males and one female gather in a circle, clutch each others' hands and begin to dance to the popular nursery rhyme. It's almost like a scene from a school playground as the bears joyfully play together, tapping their feet and moving around in a circle. (Photo by Valtteri Mulkahainen/Solent News & Photo Agency)

It looks like the cute teddybear-shaped food trend is continuing. A Japanese designer has come up with the most adorable way to enjoy toast. The clever invention is a toast stamp that seamlessly morphs your bread into a teddybear.