Alexander Grigoryevich Tyshler (26 July 1898 — 1980, , ) was a Russian modernist painter, in particular, notable as a

stage designer Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including plays and musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, where it may be referred to as prod ...

Early life

Tyshler was born in 1898 in

Melitopol Melitopol is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River, which flows through the eastern edge of the city into the Molochnyi Lyman estuary. Melitopol is the second-largest city ...

Taurida Governorate Taurida Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It included the territory of the Crimean Peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River with the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea o ...

(now

Zaporizhzhia Oblast Zaporizhzhia Oblast (), commonly referred to as Zaporizhzhia (), is an oblast (region) in south-east Ukraine. Its administrative centre is the city of Zaporizhzhia. The oblast covers an area of , and has a population of The oblast is an import ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

) in a Jewish family. His father, Grigory Tyshler, was a

joiner Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, ...

. In 1912, Tyshler was accepted in Kyiv Art School, which he graduated from in 1917. Soon afterwards, the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

started, and he was unable to travel back to Melitopol. Tyshler stayed in Kiev and started to visit the workshop of

Aleksandra Ekster Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Ekster (née Grigorovich; ; ; 18 January 1882 – 17 March 1949), also known as Alexandra Exter, was a Russian and French painter and designer. As a young woman, her studio in Kiev attracted all the city's creative lum ...

which was also the place heavily visited by the intellectual elite of the city. In 1919, he signed up for the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, and in 1920 he returned to Melitopol, where he married Anastasia Grozdova the same year. In 1921, Tyshler moved to

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Career

In Moscow, Tyshler got close to futurist circles. He worked in painting and graphics, in particular, as a book illustrator. In this period, he was mostly interested in abstract compositions showing details of some mechanical equipment. On the other hand, the graphics was mainly figurative and, in particular, showed some themes related to the Civil War, as well as landscapes of

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. Starting from 1926, when Tyshler was invited to design a stage for a play in BelGOSET, the state Jewish theater in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, he also started to work as a stage designer. His second stage design was for ''

Fuenteovejuna ''Fuenteovejuna'' () is a play by the Spanish playwright Lope de Vega. First published in Madrid in 1619, as part of ''Docena Parte de las Comedias de Lope de Vega Carpio'' (''Volume 12 of the Collected plays of Lope de Vega Carpio''),Edwards, ...

'' by

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...

. He was subsequently invited to the State Jewish Theater in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

, and, in the 1930s, to Romen Theatre in Moscow. Tyshler worked with Romen Theatre until 1940 and made the stage design for most of their performances of that period. In the 1930s, he also produced many paintings on topics associated with the Russian Revolution and Civil war, as well as related to the topics of his stage design, such as a large cyclus on

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnic groups * Romani people, or Roma, an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin ** Romani language, an Indo-Aryan macrolanguage of the Romani communities ** Romanichal, Romani subgroup in the United Kingdom * Romanians (Romanian ...

life. Tyshler's paintings before 1936 are considered the early period of his art.

Legacy

A notable set of his works is the 1928 '' Lyrical Cycle'', whilst some other works by Tyshler are held in the collection of the Melitopol Museum of Local History.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tyshler, Alexander 1898 births 1980 deaths People from Melitopol People from Melitopolsky Uyezd 20th-century Ukrainian Jews Russian painters