Alexandra Exter theatre and Ukrainian scenography in the 1910s and 1920s

Valentyna Chechyk

doi:10.5817/TY2022-1-4

Alexandra Exter theatre and Ukrainian scenography in the 1910s and 1920s

Vol.25,No.1(2022)

Valentyna Chechyk

https://doi.org/10.5817/TY2022-1-4

Stable URL (handle):
http://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/145138

PDF

Abstract

The article is devoted to developing Alexandra Exter's system of decorations on the stages of Ukrainian theatres. The principles of stage design, discovered by Exter in the Moscow productions of Famira Kifared (1916), Salome (1917), and others, were viewed and shared as a specific methodology among Kyiv and Odesa artists in the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. The article focuses on scenographic projects of the Ukrainian theatrical avant-garde paradigmatic figures – Vadym Meller, Anatol Petrytsky, and Oleksandr Khvostenko-Khvostov. The early Isaac Rabinovich and Vadym Meller were in the circle of Ukrainian adherents, too. Mykhailo Andriienko-Nechytailo, Mykola Sokolov, and many others considered themselves students and followers of Exter in Kyiv. Their stage experience at the turn of the 1910s – 1920s marked the decisive transition of Ukrainian scenography to volumetric-plastic spatial structures that reflected, supported, and contributed to the development of stage action.

Keywords:
Ukrainian avant-garde scenography; form and colour experiments; theatre artist; decoration system by Alexandra Exter

Pages:
44–64

References

BARKOVSKAIA, Olga. 2012. Obshchestvo Nezavisimykh khudozhnikov v Odesse: Bibliograficheskij spravochnik [Society of Independent Artists in Odesa: Bibliographic Reference]. Odesa, 2012.

BOWLT, John E. 1981. The Marionettes of Alexandra Exter [online]. Russian History 8 (1981): 1/2: 219–232. [accessed 7.4.2022]. Available online at http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.muni.cz/stable/24652395. | DOI 10.1163/187633181X00110

DANILOV, Nikolaj. 1967. O druziakh-tovarishchakh, o teatre, o sebe. Chast pervaia (Kiev–Odessa, 1912–1933) [About Friends-Comrades, About Theatre, About Myself. Part One (Kyiv–Odesa, 1912–1933)]. Soyuz teatralnykh deiatelej Rossijskoj Federatsii. Rukopisnyj fond [Fund of manuscripts]. I D.18, 783. 1967.

EFROS, Abram. 1917. Pisma iz Moskvy. Vystavki [Letters from Moscow. Exhibitions]. Apollon 8–10 (1917): 109–112.

EFROS, Abram. 1934. Kamernyj teatr i ego khudozhniki: 1914–1934 [Chamber Theatre and Its Artists: 1914–1934]. Moscow: VTO, 1934.

EXTER, Aleksandra. 1912. Novoie vo frantsuzskoj zhivopisi (Kubizm. Iz stati Rozhe Allara) [New in French Painting (Cubism. From Roger Allard's Article)]. Iskusstvo 1–2 (1912): 34–44.

FEVRALSKIJ, Aleksandr. 1940. Misteriia-buff (Opyt literaturnoj stsenicheskoj istorii piesy) ['Mystery-buff'. Experience of the Literary Stage history of the Play]. Maiakovskij. Materialy i issledovaniia [Mayakovsky. Materials and Research]. Moscow: GIHL, 1940: 178–269.

GARAFOLA, Lynn. 2011. An Amazon of the Avant-Garde: Bronislava Nijinska in Revolutionary Russia [online]. Dance Research 29 (2011): 2: 109–166. [accessed on 21.11.2021]. Available online at https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8PC3C4H.

GOSIASON, Filipp. 1919. Khuduzhnik v teatre (Beseda s Aleksandroj Ekster) [Artist in the Theatre (Conversation with Alexandra Exter)]. Odesskij listok 130 (28. 9. 1919): 4.

IERMAKOVA, Nataliia. 2012. Berezilska kultura: Istoriia, dosvid [Berezil Culture: History, Dosvіd]. Kyiv: Feniks, 2012.

Kataloh pershoї vystavky ARMU: Kyїvska filiia [Catalog of the First ARMU Exhibition: Kyiv Branch]. Kyiv, 1927.

Hobo v 1-m Gosudarstvennom teatre dlia detej [Hobo at the 1st State Theatre for Children]. Vechernieie radio 92 (2. 12. 1924): 3.

HORBACHOV, Dmytro. 1996. Ukraїnskyj avanhard 1910–1930 rokiv: albom [Ukrainian Avantgarde 1910–1930s: Album]. Kyiv: Mystetstvo, 1996.

KAZOVSKYJ, Hillel. 2007. Kultur-Liha. Khudozhnij avanhard 1910–1920 rokiv: albom kataloh [Culture League/Lige. Artistic Avant-garde of 1910–1920]. Kyiv: Dukh i litera, 2007.

KHVOSTENKO, Les. 1929. Proiekt richovoho oformlennia postanovky opery R. Vahnera 'Valkiriia' [Material Design Project for R. Wagner's Opera Valkyrie]. Mystetski materialy avanhardu [Avant-garde Art Materials]. Kharkiv: Rukh, 1929.

KOVALENKO, Georgii. 2000. Alexandra Exter. In John E. Bowlt and Matthew Drutt (eds.). Amazons of the Avant-garde. New York: Guggenheim Museum; Harry N. Abrams, 2000: 131–153.

KOVALENKO, Georgy. 1992. Stupeni teatralnoho konstruktyvizmu [Degrees of Theatrical Constructivism]. Ukraїnskyj teatr 3 (1992): 15–21.

KOVALENKO, Georgy. 1993. Aleksandra Exter: put hudozhnika. Hudozhnik i vremia [Alexandra Exter: The Artist's Way. Artist and Time]. Moscow: Galart, 1993.

KOVALENKO, Georgy. 2010a. Aleksandra Exter, Alexandra Exter. Vol. 1. Moscow: Muzej sovremennogo iskusstva, 2010.

KOVALENKO, Georgy. 2010b. Aleksandra Exter, Alexandra Exter. Vol. 2. Moscow: Muzej sovremennogo iskusstva, 2010.

KOVALENKO, Georgy. 2019. Constructivism in Ukrainian Theatre. Harvard Ukrainian Studies 36 (2019): 3/4: 389–414.

KRASSOWSKI, Feliks. 1926. Scena narastająca. Zasady i projekty [Build-up Scene. Rules and Designs]. Kraków: Nakładem 'Zwrotnicy', 1926.

KUZMIN, Evgenij. 1930–1931. Anatol Petrytskyj. Rukopys (1930–1931) [Anatol Petrytsky. Manuscript 1930–1931]. Arkhiv Natsionalnyj khudozhnij muzej Ukraїny (NKhMU) [Archive of the National Art Museum of Ukraine]. Fund 'KUZMIN' (31): 28.

KUZMIN, Evgenij. 1919. Salomeia [Salome]. Zori 1 (1919): 40–41.

LIFSHITS, Benedikt. 1989. Polutoroglazyj strelets: Stikhotvoreniia, perevody, vospominaniia [One and a Half-Eyed Sagittarius: Poems, Translations, Memoirs]. Leningrad: Sovetskij pisatel, 1989.

MAKARYK, Irena R. and Virlana TKACZ (eds.). 2010. Modernism in Kyiv: Jubilant Experimentation. Toronto/Buffalo/London: University of Toronto Press, 2010.

MARCADÉ, Jean-Claude and Valentine MARCADÉ. 1978. Andreenko. Lausanne: L'Age d'homme, 1978.

NAKOV, Andrei. 1972. Alexandra Exter. Paris: Galerie Jean Chauvelin, 1972.

POPOVICH, Volodymyr. 1969. Mykhailo Andriienko [Mykhailo Andrienko]. Munich: Suchasnіst, 1969.

RAILING, Patricia, Caroline WALLIS and Aleksandra ĖKSTER. 2011. Alexandra Exter paints, 1910–1924. Forest Row: Artists Bookworks, 2011.

SICHYNSKYJ, Volodymyr. 1934. Andriienko [Andrienko]. Lviv: Asotsiatsiia nezalezhnykh ukraїnskykh myttsiv, 1934.

SYMASHKEVYCH, Mylytsia. 1962. Spohady pro moho vchytelia. Mashynopys. [Memories of My Teacher. Typescript]. Muzei Teatralnoho, muzychnoho ta kinomystetstva Ukraїny [Museum of Theatrical, Musical, and Cinematic Art]. Fond 'Rukopys'. 10042. 1962.

TAIROV, Alexander. 1970. O teatrie [On Theatre]. Moscow: VTO, 1970.

TESLENKO, І. 2012. Oriientalni motyvy v avantgardnij stsenohrafiї Ukraїny (persha tretyna XX st.) [Oriental Motifs in Avant-garde Scenography of Ukraine (Early Third of the 20th Century)]. Les Kurbas v konteksti svitovoї ta vitchyznianoї kultury [Les Kurbas in the Context of World and Local Culture]: Im Memoria of 125th Anniversary of L. Kurbas' Birth. Kurbas Center of Theatre Art, Kharkiv, Kyiv, 14–15 March 2012: 168.

TOBIN, Jordan. 2015. Alexandra Exter 1908–1914: Futurist Influences from Russia and the West. In Günter Berghaus (ed.). International Yearbook of Futurism Studies. Vol. 5. Berlin/München/Boston: De Gruyter, 2015: 252–265.

TUGENDHOLD, Iakov. 1917. V moskovskikh teatrakh [In Moscow Theatres]. Apollon 8–10 (1917): 115–122.

TUGENDHOLD, Iakov. 1922. Aleksandra Ekster kak zhivopisets i khudozhnik stseny [Alexandra Exter as an Artist and a Theatre Designer]. In Georgy Kovalenko (ed.). Aleksandra Exter: Tsvetovyie ritmy [Alexandra Exter: Color Rhythms]. St. Petersburgh: Palace Edition, 2001: 130–141.

TURCHAK, Lesia. 2021. Vnesok Oleksandry Ekster u khudozhniu kulturu Ukraїny ta svitu [Alexandra Exter's Contribution to Ukrainian and World Art]. Suchasne Mystetstvo 17: 2021: 219–228.

VOLKHONOVYCH, Y. 1997. Bronislava Nizhynska i Les Kurbas [Bronislava Nijinska and Les Kurbas]. Ukraїnskyi Teatr 1 (1997): 10–13.

Metrics