Elinson was born in 1935 in St. Petersburg, Russia. He studied philosophy and pedagogy, worked for many years as a speech therapist with mentally handicapped children, but by 1960’s had become consumed with art. He became a key member of the first unofficial, nonconformist art circles and avant-garde exhibitions of the Soviet underground and was questioned and blacklisted by the KGB. No longer able to exhibit his work, he immigrated to USA in 1973. He worked at Yale University and taught Russian for many years at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. All the while, he worked relentlessly as an artist, pursuing his unique, uncompromising vision in graphic art.