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

stage designer Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...

Early life

Tyshler was born in 1898 in

Melitopol Melitopol ( uk, Меліто́поль, translit=Melitópol’, ; russian: Мелитополь; based on el, Μελιτόπολις - "honey city") is a city and municipality in Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine. Melitopol has been ...

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

joiner A joiner is an artisan and tradesperson who builds things by Woodworking joints, joining pieces of wood, particularly lighter and more ornamental work than that done by a Carpentry, carpenter, including furniture and the "fittings" of a house, ...

. In 1912, Tyshler was accepted in

Kiev Art School Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Kyi ...

, which he graduated from in 1917. Soon afterwards, the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

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

Aleksandra Ekster Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "pro ...

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 (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

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

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

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, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

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

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the 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 stat ...

, 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. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literatu ...

. He was subsequently invited to the State Jewish Theater in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Romen Theatre Romen Theatre (russian: link=no, Московский музыкально-драматический театр "Ромэн") is the oldest and the most famous of Romani theatres in the world. The theatre is a key object of Romani culture in R ...

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 topis of his stage design, such as a large cyclus on

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

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

Legacy

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 Ukrainian Jews Russian painters