- 344
Pavel Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov
Estimate
180,000 - 220,000 USD
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Description
- Pavel Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov
- Stage Design for Sakuntala, staged by Alexander Tairov's Chamber Theater in Moscow, 1914
- signed and titled in Cyrillic and variously inscribed (on the reverse)
- tempera and pencil on paper mounted onto board
- 14 by 17 in.
- 35.6 by 43.2 cm
Provenance
Alisa Koonen, Moscow
N. S. Sukhotsky, Moscow
A. A. Chizhov, Moscow
Acquired by the present owner directly from the above
N. S. Sukhotsky, Moscow
A. A. Chizhov, Moscow
Acquired by the present owner directly from the above
Literature
Abram Efros, Kamernyi teatr i ego khudozhniki, 1914-1934, Moscow, 1934, illustrated
Catalogue Note
In 1914 Alexander Tairov staged a production of the classical Sanskrit play Abhijnana-Sakuntala at the Kamerny (Chamber) Theater. The play premiered on December 12 (25), 1914, soon after the start of World War I. The décor was designed by the noted Symbolist artist Pavel Kuznetsov. Alisa Koonen, the leading actress of the Chamber Theater (and the wife of Tairov), played the title role in a performance inspired greatly by the dances of Isadora Duncan.
Written approximately two thousand years ago by the fourth-century Indian poet Calidassa (Kalidasa), who probably lived during the reign of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II (ca. A.D. 380-413), Sakuntala is loosely based on an episode from the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata (book 1, ch. 62-69) Although Sakuntala is a story about the triumph of romantic love between the nymph Sakuntala and King Dushanta, for devout Hindus the play represents more than just a captivating love story: it is a religious drama that at the most fundamental level teaches the doctrine of karma, the idea that our experiences are influenced by the acts performed earlier in this life as well as in past lives. The play is also an allegory of the relationship between the worshiper and the sacred.
Sakuntala was the first production to fully embody Tairov's vision of "synthetic theater," a method of stage presentation that rejected both the well-established psychological realism of Konstantin Stanislavsky and the "conscious theatricality" of Vsevolod Meyerhold. In Tairov's view, Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theater diminished the role of the actor to that of "servant" to literature, while in the Meyerholdian theater the actor was a slave to the artist-designer. Tairov's theater was centrally focused on the actor's technique, combining the elements of music, design, and movement into a unified expression in the service of the actor. The balletic method of organizing space, in which the center of the stage is left empty, appealed to Tairov precisely because it allows actors to demonstrate their physical virtuosity to great effect.
As if to demonstrate Tairov's assertion that "We are not advocates of the depiction on stage of the drudgery of tedious, everyday existence," Sakuntala, which made its first appearance on the Russian stage in the Chamber Theater's 1914 production, had nothing in common with the social realities of the day. Against the backdrop of the First World War, Tairov's choice of a play about romantic love--and one set, moreover, in an exotic setting and a remote era--was viewed by some as inappropriate. Amid the general mobilization, Kuznetsov was even drafted for military service, but managed to continue painting and preparing his designs while performing his duties as a soldier.
Written approximately two thousand years ago by the fourth-century Indian poet Calidassa (Kalidasa), who probably lived during the reign of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II (ca. A.D. 380-413), Sakuntala is loosely based on an episode from the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata (book 1, ch. 62-69) Although Sakuntala is a story about the triumph of romantic love between the nymph Sakuntala and King Dushanta, for devout Hindus the play represents more than just a captivating love story: it is a religious drama that at the most fundamental level teaches the doctrine of karma, the idea that our experiences are influenced by the acts performed earlier in this life as well as in past lives. The play is also an allegory of the relationship between the worshiper and the sacred.
Sakuntala was the first production to fully embody Tairov's vision of "synthetic theater," a method of stage presentation that rejected both the well-established psychological realism of Konstantin Stanislavsky and the "conscious theatricality" of Vsevolod Meyerhold. In Tairov's view, Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theater diminished the role of the actor to that of "servant" to literature, while in the Meyerholdian theater the actor was a slave to the artist-designer. Tairov's theater was centrally focused on the actor's technique, combining the elements of music, design, and movement into a unified expression in the service of the actor. The balletic method of organizing space, in which the center of the stage is left empty, appealed to Tairov precisely because it allows actors to demonstrate their physical virtuosity to great effect.
As if to demonstrate Tairov's assertion that "We are not advocates of the depiction on stage of the drudgery of tedious, everyday existence," Sakuntala, which made its first appearance on the Russian stage in the Chamber Theater's 1914 production, had nothing in common with the social realities of the day. Against the backdrop of the First World War, Tairov's choice of a play about romantic love--and one set, moreover, in an exotic setting and a remote era--was viewed by some as inappropriate. Amid the general mobilization, Kuznetsov was even drafted for military service, but managed to continue painting and preparing his designs while performing his duties as a soldier.