Viktor Andreyevich Simov (Russian: Виктор Андреевич Симов, 14 April 1858,

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 ...

- 21 August 1935, Moscow) was a Russian painter and

scenographer A scenographer or scenic designer, also production designer, is a person who develops the appearance of a stage design, a TV or movie set, a gaming environment, a trade fair exhibition design or a museum experience exhibition design. The term ori ...

Biography

He graduated from the

Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (), also known by the acronym MUZHVZ, was one of the largest educational institutions in Russia. The school was formed by the 1865 merger of a private art college, established in Moscow ...

in 1882. From 1885 to 1886, he worked as a decorator for

Savva Mamontov Savva Ivanovich Mamontov (, ; , Yalutorovsk – 6 April 1918, Moscow) was a Russian industrialist, merchant, entrepreneur and patron of the arts. Business career He was a son of the wealthy merchant and industrialist Ivan Feodorovich Mamonto ...

, at his

Private Opera The Private Opera (), also known as: *The Russian Private Opera (); *Moscow Private Russian Opera, (); *Mamontov's Private Russian Opera in Moscow (); *Korotkov's Theatre (, 1885-1888); *Vinter's Theatre (, 1896-1899); *Private Opera Soci ...

. He also created some paintings and

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

s. In 1896, he held a joint exhibition, with

Isaac Levitan Isaac Ilyich Levitan (; – ) was a Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape". Life and work Youth Isaac Levitan was born in a ''shtetl'' of Kibarty, Augustów Governorate in Congress Poland, a part of the R ...

and , in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

In 1898, he decided to devote his career to working with the newly founded

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...

, where he would create designs for fifty-one performances and earn the admiration of the iconic actor,

Konstantin Stanislavski Konstantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski ( rus, Константин Сергеевич Станиславский, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ stənʲɪˈslafskʲɪj, links=yes; ; 7 August 1938) was a seminal Russian and Sovie ...

.''Большая советская энциклопедия'' (

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; , ''BSE'') is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Great Russian Enc ...

). B. A. Vvedensky (Ed.) 2nd ed., Vol.39. Сигишоара — Соки. 1956. Simov not only created a new aesthetic for set design, he was also involved with ideological interpretations of the material, and the directing process. Together with Stanislavski, he began the practice of doing field research. He expanded his activities in 1909, by designing a

dacha A dacha (Belarusian, Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of former Soviet Union, post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ...

in collaboration with the architect,

Leonid Vesnin Leonid Aleksandrovich Vesnin (; – 8 October 1933), was a Russian and Soviet architect. The oldest of Vesnin brothers, who were influential in developing Constructivist architecture. Biography Leonid Aleksandrovich was born on in a merchant fa ...

.A. G. Chinyakov, ''Братья Веснины'' (The Vesnin Brothers), Стройиздат, 1970 In 1912, for unknown reasons, he left the Art Theatre; working instead at the , the Maly Theatre, and the Opera Theatre at Stanislavski's acting studios. Simov-Khovanshchina

In 1924, he designed sets depicting Mars, for the groundbreaking science-fiction film, '' Aelita'', by

Yakov Protazanov Yakov Alexandrovich Protazanov (; 4 February (Old Style, O.S. 23 January ) 1881 – 8 August 1945) was a Russian and USSR, Soviet film director and screenwriter, and one of the founding fathers of cinema of Russia. He was an Honored Artist of the ...

. The following year, he also served as an artist, under the direction of Ivan Stepanov, for '' The Stationmaster'', a dramatic film based on a story by

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

. Later that same year, he returned to the Art Theatre, where he would stay until his death in 1935, aged seventy-seven.

References

External links

''Aelita: Queen of Mars''
(complete film) @ YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Simov, Viktor Andreievich 1858 births 1935 deaths Scenic designers from the Russian Empire Painters from the Russian Empire Soviet painters Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni

Biography

References

Further reading

External links