POGEDAIEFF Georges Anatolievich (Pogidaieff Grigory)

January 13, 1897 (Pozhedayevka estate, Kursk province) — August 3, 1971 (Paris)

Graphic artist, scene-designer

In 1911 Georges Pogedaieff studied in the Cadet Corps in Odessa. In 1913 he entered Moscow School of painting, sculpture and architecture (MUZhVZ), studied under Y. F. Tsionglinsky. Since 1918 Pogedaieff worked as a scene-designer. He created scene and costume designs to the ballet Red Poppies by N. N. Cherepnin, staging by K. Y. Goleizovsky in the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow (not realized). Pogedaieff together with Goleizovsky worked on the scenario for the ballet Gamelin, or the Revolution will win (not realized). In 1919 Pogedaieff took part in the Second State exhibition of paintings in Moscow.

Pogedaieff emigrated about 1920, lived in Berlin. In 1920s he worked a lot with theatre companies in Berlin, Bucharest, Vienna, and Prague. In 1921 he designed performance Hamlet by W. Sakespeare in Vienna. In 1922 he was an artist of the B. Romanov’s Russian romantic theatre in Berlin. Pogedaieff’s personal exhibition of theatre sketches and portraits was held in this theatre in Berlin. Pogedaieff worked also in the cabaret of Sasha Yuzhny Blue Bird, where he created scene and costume designs to the performances Queen of Spades, Sad Princess and many others. He designed the performances Prince Igor, Cyrano de Bergerac, Elektra, Macbeth, Turandot. In 1924 personal exhibition of Pogedaieff (exhibition of his theatre works) was organized in the salon Neue Galerie in Vienna.

In mid 1920s Pogedaieff moved to Paris, worked with the N. F. Baliev cabaret theatre Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”) in Paris. He designed the performances The crocodile and Cleopatra, Grand Guignol and others. Pogedaieff was engaged in easel and book graphic art. He created portraits of T. Bernard, P. Colin, and J. Baker. Pogedaieff illustrated books by F. M. Dostoevsky, N. V. Gogol, and A. P. Chekhov. In 1933 he was awarded the Legion of Honor.

Personal exhibitions of Pogedaieff were held in Paris in the L. Reiman gallery (1946) and in the gallery Marguerite (1956).

Works by Georges Pogedaieff are in many museum and private collections, including the theatre and decorative art collections of N. D. Lobanov-Rostovsky.