DMITRIEV Vladimir Vladimirovich

July 31, 1900 (Moscow) — May 6, 1948 (Moscow)

Painter, scene designer

Vladimir Dmitriev was born in Moscow; his mother was an actress of the Alexandrinsky Theatre.

In 1916–1917 Dmitriev studied at the Elizaveta Zvantseva School of Painting and Drawing in Petrograd, at the class of K. S. Petrov-Vodkin. He also attended the studio of V. E. Meyerhold. In 1917 he created scene designs for the play Death’s Mistake by V. Khlebnikov under the guidance of V. E. Meyerhold (not realized). In 1917–1908 Dmitriev studied at the Course of mastery of stage productions (Kurmastsep) under the guidance of V. E. Meyerhold and K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, who taught drawing. In 1918–1922 he studied at Petrograd State Free Art Workshops under K. S. Petrov-Vodkin. Dmitriev together with other pupils helped him to paint picture Stepan Razin, which decorated the Theatre Square during the first anniversary of the October Revolution.

In 1918 Dmitriev made his début as a scene designer. He designed the play A Doll’s House by H. Ibsen, whish was staged by V. E. Meyerhold, and The Miracle Show by M. de Servantes, staged by K. Tverskoy, at the theatre Luna Park in Petrograd. In 1920 he created scene designs for the Meyerhold’s performance after the poem Les Aubes by E. Verhaeren at Moscow Theatre RSFSR. In 1921 he drew sketches for unrealized production of the play Sten’ka Razin by V. V. Kamensky at Petrograd Theatre of the Baltic Fleet. In 1920–1922 Dmitriev headed art school for sailors in Petrograd, where he taught. In 1921 he was one of the organizers of the group Molodoy Balet (“Young Ballet”), which members also were G. Balanchine, V. Vainonen, and L. M. Lavrovsky. In 1923 Dmitriev took part in the Exhibition of works by Petrograd artists of all art movements. 1919–1923 in Petrograd.

In 1922 Dmitriev created scene and costume designs for the performance Extraordinary adventures of E. T. A. Hoffmann by K. Derzhavin at the Theatre of New Drama in Petrograd (staged by K. Derzhavin). In 1923 he designed the production of the play There are Crimes and Crimes by A. Strindberg at the Theatre of New Drama in Petrograd (staged by K. Tverskoy).

In 1923 Dmitriev started to collaborate with the stage director S. Radlov. The artist designed a lot of performances staged by Radlov, including Hinkemann by E. Toller (the Academic Theatre of Drama in Petrograd, 1923), American Gods after U. Sinclair (the People’s House, Leningrad, 1925), the opera The Distant Sound by F. Schrecker (Leningrad Theatre named after S. M. Kirov, GATOB, 1925), the opera The Love for Three Oranges by S. S. Prokofiev (GATOB, 1926), the opera Boris Godunov by M. P. Musorgsky (GATOB, 1928), A Feast in Time of Plague, The Stone Guest, Mozart and Salieri by A. S. Pushkin (Leningrad New Theatre, 1937), On the shore of the Neva River by K. Trenev (Leningrad Academic Drama Theatre named after A. S. Pushkin, 1937), Hamlet by W. Shakespeare (Leningrad New Theatre, 1938).

Dmitriev also collaborated with ballet master F. Lopukhov, created scene and costume designs for the ballets Pulcinella by I. F. Stravinsky (1926), The Fable of the Vixen, the Cock, the Cat and the Ram by I. F. Stravinsky (1927), The Nutcracker by P. I. Tchaikovsky (1929, all — GATOB), The Bright Stream by D. D. Shostakovich (the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, GABT, 1936).

In 1930s Dmitriev worked with many famous choreographers, such as V. Vainonen. For him Dmitriev created scene and costume designs to the ballets The Flames of Paris by B. Asafyev (GATOB, 1932 and GABT, 1934, 1947), Partisans by B. Asafyev (GATOB, 1937), The Nutcracker by P. I. Tchaikovsky (GABT, 1939). For the ballet master R. V. Zakharov, Dmitriev designed the ballet Lost Illusions by B. Asafyev (GATOB, 1936). In these works the artist was engaged not only as a scene designer, but also as a co-author of libretto for the ballets The Flames of Paris, Partisans and Lost Illusions.

Since 1927 Dmitriev worked on many opera productions in close cooperation with stage director N. Smolich and conductor S. Samosud at Leningrad Maly Opera Theatre: The Leap Over the Shadow by E. Krenek (1927), Jonny Strikes Up by E. Krenek (1928), The Nose by D. D. Shostakovich (1930), Carmen G. Bizet (1933), Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District by D. D. Shostakovich (1934, at the same time the artist worked on the performance Katerina Izmailova at the Nemirovich-Danchenko Music Theatre in Moscow, staged by Nemirovich-Danchenko), and Name-day by B. Zhelobovsky (1935). Dmitriev collaborated with N. Smolich at other theatres: The Queen of Spades by P. I. Tchaikovsky (GABT, 1931 and GATOB, 1935), Les Huguenots by G. Meyerbeer (GATOB, 1935), Carmen by G. Bizet (the Green Theatre at the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure in Moscow, 1935 and GABT, 1936), Quietly Flows the Don by I. I. Dzerzhinsky at Kharkov State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (1936), Taras Bulba by N. Lysenko and Otello by G. Verdi at Kiev State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre (1939, 1941).

Dmitriev worked a lot for Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT); he created scene and costume designs for productions after L. N. Tolstoy Resurrection (1930) and Anna Karenina (1937). He also created designs for the play Enemies by M. Gorky (1935), Woe from Wit by A. S. Griboyedov (1938), Polovtsians Gardens by L. Leonov (1939), Three Sisters by A. P. Chekhov (1940), The Kremlin Chiming Clock by N. Pogodin (1942), The Front by A. Korneychuk (1942), Russian people by K. Simonov (1943), The Last Victim by A. N. Ostrovsky (1944), Uncle Vanya by A. P. Chekhov (1947), The Forest by A. N. Ostrovsky (1947), and Our Daily Bread by N. Virta (1948).

In 1938 Dmitriev moved to Moscow, worked as an art director of Moscow Art Theatre (officially he was appointed art director in 1941, till 1948).

Dmitriev collaborated not only with the MKhAT, but also with the E. Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow: Egor Bulychov and the others, Dostigaev and the others by M. Gorky (1932, 1933); Man with a Gun by N. Pogodin (1937); I am a son of the working people by V. Kataev (1938); Field Marshal Kutuzov by V. Soloviev and B. Erdman (1940); Before Sunset by G. Hauptmann (1941); The Thunderstorm by A. N. Ostrovsky (1944); The Last Day by V. Shkvarkin (1945); The Victory Way by V. Soloviev (1946); On the Eve by I. S Turgenev (1948). At the State Drama Theatre named after A. S. Pushkin in Leningrad, Dmitriev designed a lot of performances, including Peter the Great by A. N. Tolstoy (1935), Home of the Gentry by I. S. Turgenev (1941), The lower Depth by M. Gorky (1944). At Moscow Revolution Theater and at Leningrad Bolshoi Drama Theatre named after M. Gorky, the artist designed the performance Without a Dowry by A. N. Ostrovsky (1940 and 1948); at the Theater named after M. Ermolova in Moscow — Money to Burn by A. N. Ostrovsky (1945); at Leningrad State Opera and Ballet Theatre — the opera The Maid of Orleans by P. I. Tchaikovsky (1945); at the Bolshoi Theatre — The Queen of Spades by P. I. Tchaikovsky (1944) and others.

In 1946 Dmitriev worked on scene and costume designs for the performance Humiliated and Insulted after the novel by F. M. Dostoyevsky. Première of the performance, staged by the director G. Tovstonogov, was put on the stage of the Theatre named after Lenin’s Komsomol (the Communist Union of Youth) in Leningrad in 1956.

In 1946 the artist created scene designs for the opera War and Peace by S. S. Prokofiev at the Maly Opera Theatre in Leningrad; there he started to work in close collaboration with young stage director B. Pokrovsky. They worked on the operas Bella by A. Alexandrov (1946), Enemy Force by A. Serov (1947), Ruslan and Ludmila by M. I. Glinka (1948), and The Bartered Bride by B. Smetana (1948) at the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre.

Vladimir Dmitriev was famous as a scene-designer. He designed approximately 150 dramas, operas and ballets in the theaters of the USSR; he also published a lot of articles about them. In his scene and costume designs of 1920s, the artist was under the influence of expressionism and constructivism. In early 1930s he started to follow realism tendency. In his scene works he tried to depict historic details truthfully, to recreate real picture of life. He was a scene-designer of psychological realism.

The personal exhibitions of Vladimir Dmitriev were held in Moscow in 1954 and in 1976.