John E. Bowlt – författare

A sumptuously illustrated survey of the remarkable flowering of radical, visionary and experimental design for performance in Russia in the twenty years between 1913 and 1933.At the beginning of the twentieth century, Russian theatre produced an unprecedented period of creative radicalism and collaborative experimentation. Against the turbulent backdrop of the First World War and the Russian Revolution, the avant-garde movement transformed Russia’s cultural landscape as visionaries from several disciplines generated a vortex of innovative performance and design.The astounding body of work produced by Kazimir Malevich, Alexander Rodchenko, Vladimir Tatlin, Sergei Eisenstein and Liubov Popova, among others, overturned traditions in art, music, literature and theatre. This book explores the importance and influence of a seminal moment in twentieth-century culture – one that still resonates today.Published to accompany a major exhibition at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum in association with the Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum in Moscow, this book includes essays by experts from Russia, Britain and America illustrated with over 150 images from leading artists and designers, many of which are previously unpublished.Edited by John E. Bowlt, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California, the result is an astonishing record of a period of creative innovation that redefined not only what was possible in theatre and the avant-garde, but in wider artistic practices too. It will be of interest both to theatregoers and art historians, as well as current and future designers seeking inspiration for their own work.

"This richly illustrated volume explores the Lobanov-Rostovsky collection... includes a thorough glossary and bibliography" Apollo"The essays and commentaries here provide valuable documentation and insights into the designs, their genesis, and the extent of this astonishing period in theatrical history" The Financial TimesMasterpieces of Russian Stage Design 1880-1930 examines the Lobanov-Rostovsky collection of stage design, in turn outlining the history of modern Russian art: one of the most important interludes within the cultural renaissance of the early twentieth century. Unique in size, scope, and composition, the collection is unequalled; artists include celebrities such as Bakst, Benois, Goncharova, Larionov, Malevich, Popova, Rodchenko, and Tatlin as well as less familiar names such as Anisfeld, Lissim, Remisoff, and Soudeikine. This volume (the first of a two-part set) includes over 200 colour illustrations of selected designs as well as an introduction, interview, indices (to artists, theatre companies, and primary productions), a glossary of terms, and a comprehensive bibliography for the visual and performing arts in Russia. From Neo-Nationalism and Symbolism through Cubo-Futurism and Suprematism to Constructivism and Socialist Realism, Masterpieces of Russian Stage Design guides the reader through the movements, styles, productions and projects that attracted many of Russia's early twentieth-century artists to the stage. The companion volume, Encyclopedia of Russian Stage Design ISBN: 9781851497195 (to be published in 2013), is the catalogue raisonné of the Lobanov-Rostovsky collection.

Why collect Russian stage designs? Why write about them? These questions are not rhetorical or idly academic. They have real historical, intellectual, and commercial relevance. Answers may vary, but surely a primary response must be that, quite simply, Russian stage designs are immensely pleasing to the eye. They vibrate, and scintillate with colour, texture and movement. Furthermore, through their daring inventions, Russian artists of the first thirty years of the 20th century transformed, profoundly and permanently, our perception of stage design - and hence of the theatre. They belonged to an extraordinarily creative generation of impresarios, dancers, actors, patrons, and critics who inspired or at least made a major contribution to the international renaissance of the art of the stage, and in particular areas, e.g. the teaching and performing of ballet, their influence is still present today. However, in spite of the many published commentaries on the Russian theatre, in spite of the autobiographies and biographies of its leading representatives, and in spite of the scholarly appreciations of its various components (ballet, drama, opera), the subject of stage design in Russia has yet to be explored in all its manifestations. Each work presented here is documented as fully as possible, and includes curatorial data, provenance index, and references to relevant published sources, exhibitions; and variants such as copies and preliminary drawings. The catalogue raisonné addresses the issues of attribution, identification of stage production, and date of execution and adduces evidence in the form of bibliographical, archival, and photographic data, expert opinion, and circumstantial evidence in order to support assumptions and conclusions."For the general reader there are many splendid discoveries; for anyone in today's theatre, with its drearily modish, predictabilities of image, it should prove an eye-opener, an eye-cleanser, an inspiration". Clement Crisp, The Financial Times"This is an essential guide not just to the works in the collection themselves, but to the biographies of the artists". The Art Newspaper The Encyclopedia of Russian Stage Design 1880-1930 has been published to accompany Masterpieces of Russian Stage Design 1880-1930 ISBN: 9781851496884.