Contemporary scenography. Scenography What makes the program unique


Scenography is scenery, costumes, make-up, light - everything that the production designer sets, that is, the spatial definition of the environment. Scenography is also the plastic capabilities of the cast, without which the spatial composition of a theatrical work is impossible (the actor is a module of this space, he sets and determines it; even if the actor is not on the stage at the moment, the viewer still knows how he should be in this environment). In addition, scenography is what the director builds into a mise-en-scene drawing: it is the technical possibilities of the stage and the architectural predetermination of space. In the theatre, as in no other form of art, technique plays an important role, the technical possibilities of the stage, which must correspond to the dynamics of the human body. And also important is the role of the architectural certainty of the theater building, first of all - the topography of the stage, interior and exterior data. The director plays a key role in creating the spatial solution of the performance. It defines the main tasks of the stage work, sets the parameters of spatial certainty. And if the theatrical artist was always mainly concerned with the issues of revealing the content of the work through artistic design, then the director was concerned with the scenography of the performance in its full coverage of the totality of the spatial solution. And this is quite understandable, since the main load in the visual significance of the theatrical image is carried by the actor through the creation of the mise-en-scene drawing of the performance. Mis-en-scene is the main professional task of the director. But it should be noted that sometimes the spatial solution of the performance proposed by the artist, or a certain technical device, determines the entire solution of the stage work. And the main thing is that all these professionally defined moments (such as mise-en-scene, artistic solution of space and technical certainty) are so closely intertwined that the role of each of them is difficult to determine. Scenography includes the syncretism of theatrical art, as a result of which it is possible to synthesize spatial forms of creativity. It develops through the use of the totality of the material of spatial art forms, based on the laws of visual aesthetic perception. At the same time, scenographic imagery is built and largely determined by the achievements, the level of development of individual spatial arts. The development of "simple" forms of art, in which a separate type of spatial type of material dominates, is a kind of "laboratory experiment" for scenography, as a result of which one of its facets is tested. Therefore, theater artists and directors in their searches often use the techniques of spatial arts: painting, graphics, architecture, etc.

When creating scenery for the play “All boys are fools! or And then one day! The theme and idea of ​​the staged material were taken into account. At the sight of the scenery, the through action of the performance was immediately read: The backstage of the stage was decorated with multi-colored balls, shaped like cartoon characters. Two screens were placed on the proscenium, with the help of which the technical group changed the place of action, throwing over pre-prepared templates. On the back there was a canvas in the form of a fence made of pencils with the inscription “All little fools!

Theatrical and decorative art (often also called scenography) is a type of fine art associated with the artistic design of a theatrical performance, that is, the creation of a living environment on the theatrical stage in which the characters of a dramatic or musical-dramatic work act, as well as the appearance of these heroes. The main elements of theatrical and decorative art - scenery, lighting, props and props, costumes and make-up of actors - constitute a single artistic whole, expressing the meaning and nature of the stage action, subordinate to the concept of the performance. Theatrical and decorative art is closely connected with the development of the theatre. Stage performances without elements of artistic and visual design are an exception.

The basis of the artistic design of the performance is the scenery depicting the place and time of the action. The specific form of scenery (composition, color scheme, etc. is determined not only by the content of the action, but also by its external conditions (more or less rapid changes in the scene of action, the peculiarities of the perception of the scenery from the auditorium, its combination with certain lighting, etc.) .

The image embodied on the stage is initially created by the artist in a sketch or layout. The path from the sketch to the layout and design of the scene is connected with the search for the greatest expressiveness of the scenery and its artistic completeness. In the work of the best theatrical artists, the sketch is important not only as a working plan for stage design, but also as a relatively independent work of art.


A. M. Vasnetsov. Set design for N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia. 1906.

Theatrical scenery includes the framing of the stage, a special curtain (or curtains), a pictorial solution of the stage space of the stage, backstage, background, etc. The ways of depicting the living environment on the stage are diverse. In the traditions of Russian realistic art, pictorial solutions prevail. At the same time, written planar elements are usually combined with built ones (volumetric or semi-volumetric) into an integral image that creates the illusion of a single spatial environment of action. But the basis of the scenery can also be figurative and expressive constructions, projections, draperies, screens, etc., as well as a combination of various image methods. The development of stage technique and the expansion of representational methods do not, however, cancel the significance of painting as the basis of theatrical and decorative art in general. The choice of image method in each individual case is determined by the specific content, genre and style of the work embodied on the stage.

The costumes of the actors, created by the artist in unity with the scenery, characterize the social, national, and individual characteristics of the heroes of the performance. They correspond in color with the scenery (“fit” into the overall picture), and in a ballet performance they also have a special “dance” specificity (they must be comfortable and light and emphasize dance movements).

With the help of lighting, not only a clear visibility (visibility, “readability”) of the scenery is achieved, but also various seasons and days, illusions of natural phenomena (snow, rain, etc.) are depicted. Color lighting effects are able to create a feeling of a certain emotional atmosphere of a stage action.


Dolls by S. V. Obraztsov from his pop numbers: “Tyapaya (“Lullaby” by M. P. Mussorgsky) and the head of a doll on his finger (“We were sitting with you ...”).

Theatrical and decorative art changes with the development of artistic culture as a whole. It depends on the dominant artistic style, on the type of dramaturgy, on the state of the fine arts, as well as on the arrangement of theater premises and stage, on lighting techniques, and many other concrete historical conditions.

Theatrical and decorative art in Russia reached a high level of development at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, when outstanding artists came to the theater. They brought a great pictorial culture to the design of performances, achieved the artistic integrity of the stage action, the organic participation of fine art in it, the unity of scenery, lighting and costumes with dramaturgy and music. These were artists who first worked at the Mammoth Opera (V. M. Vasnetsov, V. D. Polenov, M. A. Vrubel and others), then at the Moscow Art Theater (V. A. Simov and others), in the imperial musical theaters (K. A. Korovin, A. Ya. Golovin), Diaghilev's "Russian Seasons" (A. N. Benois, L. S. Bakst, N. K. Roerich, etc.). A powerful stimulus for the development of theatrical and decorative art was given by the creative search for advanced stage direction (K. S. Stanislavsky, V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, V. E. Meyerhold, choreographers M. M. Fokin and A. A. Gorsky).


E. Zmoiro. Scenery model for the performance of the Central Children's Theater "Skates" based on the play by S. V. Mikhalkov. 1976.

In Soviet theatrical and decorative art, the traditions of Russian theatrical and decorative classics were continued and developed. His innovation was due to new ideas, themes, images associated with the development of drama and the theater of socialist realism. The outstanding masters of this art were the artists F. Fedorovsky, V. Dmitriev, P. Williams, N. Akimov, N. Shifrin, B. Volkov, Yu. Pimenov, V. Ryndin, S. Virsaladze, A. Vasiliev and many others. Together with all other types of artistic creativity, theatrical and decorative art (through its connection with the theater and stage action) reflected all the diversity of the life of our country, the history of our society.

Artists also participate in the creation of films, television plays, variety and circus performances. Spectacular arts are perceived by millions of viewers, and therefore the role of the artist is very responsible here.

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The art of scenography

The practical interests of the developing art spontaneously put forward scenography as the basic basis for planning and developing artistic performances, animation programs, exhibition events, etc., its total ambiguity only confirms the need for further development of scenographic activity.

Therefore, the significance of scenography in understanding and perceiving the artistic concept and for the implementation of the spatial solution as conceived by the author is obvious.

Scenography should include stage design as a necessary moment of the artistic integrity of any productions, it should formulate the principles of the actors and participants in the performance, performance during it. The spatial solution of each event should correspond to the chosen topic and the actions of the participants in the structure of the performance as a whole.

In the most general definition scenography- this is a type of artistic activity, which is based on the design of a performance, performance, the creation of a pictorial image that is perceived by the audience and participants as a single entity that exists in stage form, time and space.

Scenography is the science of artistic and technical means of creating and holding a performance. All artistic, decorative and technical means that are used in the implementation of a stage program or event are considered by scenography as elements that create an artistic form of performance.

In practical terms, scenography is the creation of a visual image of a performance by decorating the venue with scenery, lighting, staging techniques, as well as by creating costumes for actors in the spirit of the script. In fact, staging a performance and creating the right perception for the audience and participants depends on how organically the elements of the performance are selected in the process of scenography.

Scenography means creating a visual image through scenery, costumes, lighting and staging techniques. Special spectacle, complex effects require the work of stage mechanisms that can change the scenery behind the curtain or in front of the public.

Scenography originated in ancient Greece, possibly originating from the term scenography, which at one time was understood as "stage painting", that is, the use of "picturesque perspectives" in the design of the stage.

At first glance, the very structure of the word scenography hints at the specifics of the design artist's activity. But if we understand scenography only as decoration, then the question arises - is scenography reduced only to the scenery and costumes of the actors.

However, the significance of scenography in the structure of the performance and presentation is wider, since what is depicted on the scenery is, first of all, the development of the actors' actions in a certain spatial environment within the framework of the performance theme. That is, in fact, scenography is a term, the content of which is much wider than the direct meaning of the word. The content of scenography in the structure of the performance means not only the image on the scenery and costumes, but also the staging activities of the actors. Moreover, all this is carried out within the framework set by the theme of the presentation.

In addition, if the scenery is created mainly on the basis of studying the material of various artists, illustrators, etc., then the scenography as a whole should focus on the entire spatial interpretation of the performance, on everything that forms the visual significance of the staged image. The simplest example of a performance is the New Year Tree. For example, the sudden appearance of a cell phone at Santa Claus on New Year's holiday will destroy the created image. However, if you frame it as a joke and adapt the program to modern features, it will be perceived by the audience adequately and will not create an unpleasant impression.

Types of scenography

Scenography can be of three types:

  1. detailed scenography,
  2. laconic scenography;
  3. minimal scenography.

Types of scenography

Detailed scenography includes a complete design of the performance venue in accordance with its program, costumed participants, a detailed script, coordinated actions of all actors at each stage and the complete absence of external influences during the performance. Similar methods are used for staging serious thematic performances in full compliance with the surroundings.

Laconic scenography means the general design of the venue of the performance without attention to detail, poorly detailed costumes of the actors, a general scenario with the main replicas of the actors. Basically, performances and performances of this level are organized at corporate and social events.

Minimal scenography implies the performance of actors without costumes, without decorating the venue for the performance. In fact, minimal scenography is a performance on a prepared stage with musical accompaniment. This approach is used in the simplest performances and performances, for example, animation programs conducted according to the scheme presenter - actors - spectators - competitions - prizes.

In general, in the field of socio-cultural service and tourism, the term scenography has become widespread. Often this term refers to one of the key points of animation programs - the spatial solution of the event.

Modern scenography

In part, this term is limited in its content, because there is no single theoretical base in this area. Despite the fact that this component of theatrical art has existed since the very beginning of the theater and performances, scenography cannot boast of any detailed theoretical concept. On the contrary, the applied aspects of scenography are worked out in detail and in detail.

Modern scenography includes a system of elements that ensure the effectiveness of the performance and performance.

Despite this, many people think of scenography as purely decorative art. This is fundamentally wrong. The term "decorative art" literally means "to decorate, adorn something" and refers mainly to theatrical decorations. Actually, theatrical techniques of scenography laid the foundation for scenography in all other areas related to performances and performances. For example, an entertainment service borrowed theatrical methods and approaches for event design. However, decorative art is only a part of theatrical scenography, and not its full content.

Therefore, scenography is not only decorating the venue for a performance, performance, presentation or other event, since, in fact, this does not correspond to its essence, but only characterizes a certain method of preparing the venue. Scenography includes the aesthetic position of a certain subject within which a performance or performance is held. Therefore, the universality of the use of scenography is very conditional, since what scenography should include depends on the concept of the performance.

The director's intention makes the actors and spectators take into account the spatial and thematic certainty of the performance. Therefore, the classical perception of the environment changes, due to which it becomes possible for viewers and participants to feel that they are involved in the action. This is the key to the success of any performance and performance, which provides scenography.

Approval of new tasks and opportunities facing modern theater and acting is possible by expanding the possibilities of scenography. It is necessary to develop the visual significance of artistic images, the integrity of the performance and staging, as well as the interactivity of communication between actors and participants with the audience.

If there is a space created through scenography, where the action of the artistic production takes place, then it already affects the image and perception of the audience and participants. Since artistic activity is very characteristic and differs from, for example, acting in films, scenography should help actors realize their performance skills.

Therefore, the scenography has a pronounced dependence on the artistic context of the production, due to the characteristic features of the organized performance. As a result, the development of scenography is carried out due to the fact that with each new artistic setting of scenography, new tasks are set, and each time they become more complex and complex.

In practice, a separate position of a stage designer in the activities of theatrical, circus and other artistic groups is allocated only in large cultural institutions and socio-cultural services. There is also a stage designer position in large enterprises involved in organizing holidays and events, including large hotels, sanatoriums, etc. The scenographer in this case is a kind of production technologist, architect, designer and engineer of the performances and events.

In small creative groups, the functions of the stage designer are performed by their members and actors themselves. Their tasks include both the design of the space allocated for the performance, and the creation of a holistic artistic image of the projected production.

The maximum that is done outside the artistic group is the production of scenery. At the same time, any professional artist is able to perform artistic design of the scenery, if the goals and objectives of the design are clearly set for him. However, the artist will not be able to convey the spirit of the scenery, simply embodying ideas in the form of artistic scenery. Therefore, scenography does not consist only in the decorative design of space. However, new requirements are constantly being put forward for scenography, each time assessing the role of the artist in creating the artistic integrity of a new production in a different way, which in turn requires a certain specialization from the artist, focusing on this kind of activity.

One of the main elements of the post-navigation of artistic performances and performances is scenography and scenographic preparation. The role of scenography in creating the artistic image of the production is very large, since due to scenography technologies, a spatial solution is created for each performance and presentation in order to create the correct perception of the artistic image for the audience.

Scenography is the use of artistic and technical means for productions, performances, performances, performances and other events. From the point of view of practical implementation, scenography is the creation of a vivid visual image that is perceived by spectators and participants.

For this purpose, artistic design is used with scenery, lighting and staging equipment for the venue of the animation program. In addition, scenography includes the creation of costumes for actors, which must correspond to the artistic concept of the production.

The scenography is based on the principle of matching the concept of the production. At the same time, the methodology and tools of scenography are adapted to create individual elements that make up a complex creative concept as a whole, and artistic integrity is the essence and main goal of scenography.

The content of the article

SCENOGRAPHY, a type of artistic creativity that deals with the design of a performance and the creation of its figurative-plastic image that exists in stage time and space. In the performance, the art of scenography includes everything that surrounds the actor (decoration), everything he deals with - plays, acts (tangible attributes) and everything that is on his figure (costume, makeup, mask, other elements of transformation). his appearance). At the same time, scenography can use as expressive means: firstly, what is created by nature, secondly, objects and textures of everyday life or production, and, thirdly, what is born as a result of the artist’s creative activity (from masks, costumes, real props to painting, graphics, stage space, light, dynamics, etc.)

Prehistory - prescenography.

The origins of scenography prescenography the action of the ritual-ceremonial pre-theater (both the most ancient, prehistoric, and folklore, preserved in its residual forms to this day). The “genetic code” was already manifested in the pre-scenography, the subsequent implementation of which determined the main stages of the historical development of the art of scenography from antiquity to the present day. This "genetic code" contains all three main functions that scenography is capable of performing in a performance: character, acting, and designating the scene. Character - involves the inclusion of scenography in the stage action as an independently significant material, plastic, pictorial or any other (by means of embodiment) character - an equal partner of the performers, and often the main acting "person". Game function - is expressed in the direct participation of scenography and its individual elements (costume, makeup, mask, material accessories) in the transformation of the actor's appearance and in his game. The function of designating the scene is to organize the environment in which the events of the performance take place.

character function was predominant at the stage of prescenography. At the center of ritual and ceremonial actions was an object that embodied the image of a deity or some higher power: various figures (including ancient sculptures), all kinds of idols, totems, stuffed animals (Shrovetide. Carnival, etc.), different types of images (including the same wall drawings in ancient caves), trees and other plants (up to the modern Christmas tree), bonfires and other types of fire, as the embodiment of the image of the sun.

At the same time, the prescenography also performed two other functions - the organization of the scene and the game. The place of action of ritual actions and performances was of three types. The first type (generalized scene) is the most ancient, born of mythopoetic consciousness and carrying the semantic meaning of the universe (a square is a sign of the Earth, a circle is the sign of the Sun; different versions of the vertical model of the cosmos: a world tree, a mountain, a pillar, a ladder; a ritual ship, a boat , boat; finally, the temple, as an architectural image of the universe). The second type (a specific scene of action) is the environment of his life surrounding a person: natural, industrial, domestic: forest, glade, hills, mountains, road, street, peasant yard, the house itself and its interior - a light room. And the third type (pre-stage) was the incarnation of the other two: the stage could be any space, separated from the audience and becoming a place for playing.

Game scenography - Antiquity, Middle Ages.

From this moment, the theater itself begins, as an independent type of artistic creativity, and begins game scenography, as historically the first design system for his performances. At the same time, in the most ancient forms of theatrical performances, especially in ancient and oriental ones (which remained closest to the ritual ritual pre-theater), scenographic characters continued to occupy a significant position, on the one hand, and generalized scenes of action, as images of the universe, on the other hand (for example, orchestra and proscenium in ancient Greek tragedy). An increase in the share of play scenography occurred as the historical movement of the theater from the mythopoetic to the secular. The Renaissance-born Italian commedia dell'arte and Shakespeare's theater were the peak of this movement. It was here that the performance design system, based on the play-action-manipulation of actors with elements of scenography, reached its culmination, after which for several centuries (up to the 20th century inclusive) it was replaced by a different design system - decorative art, the main function of which was to create an image places of action.

Decorative art - Renaissance and Modern times.

decorative art(whose elements existed earlier, for example, in the ancient theater and in the European medieval - the simultaneous (simultaneously showing different scenes of action: from heaven to hell, located on the stage in a straight line frontally) the scenery of the areal mysteries), as a special system for the design of performances, was born in the Italian court theater of the late 15th-16th centuries, in the form of the so-called. decorative perspectives depicting (similar to the paintings of Renaissance painters) the world surrounding a person, as it were: the squares and cities of an ideal city or an ideal rural landscape. The author of one of the first such decorative perspectives was the great architect D. Bramante. The artists who created them were masters of a universal warehouse (at the same time architects, painters, and sculptors) - B. Peruzzi, Bastiano de Sangallo, B. Lanci, and finally S. Serlio, who in the treatise About the scene formulated three canonical types of perspective scenery (for tragedy, for comedy and for pastoral) and the main principle of their location in relation to the actors: the performers are in the foreground, the painted scenery is in depth, as a pictorial background. The architectural masterpiece of A. Palladio, the Olimpico Theater in Vincenzo (1580–1585), became the perfect embodiment of this Italian decorative system.

The subsequent centuries of the evolution of decorative art are closely connected, on the one hand, with the development of the main artistic styles of world culture, and, on the other hand, with the internal process of development and technical equipment of the stage space.

Thus, the Baroque style became decisive in the decorative art of the 17th century. Now it has become an environment that surrounds them from all sides and is created in the entire space of the scene-box. At the same time, the types of scenes themselves have expanded significantly. The action was transferred to the underwater kingdoms and to the heavenly spheres. The scenery paintings expressed the baroque idea of ​​the infinity and infinity of the world, in which man is no longer the measure of all things (as it was in the Renaissance), but only a small particle of this world. Another feature of the scenery of the 17th century. - their dynamism and variability: on the stage (and on the "earth", and under the "water", and in the "heavens") many of the most fantastic, mythological metamorphoses, events, transformations took place. Technically, instantaneous changes of some pictures by others were made first with the help of telaria (trihedral rotating prisms). Then rocker mechanisms and a whole system of theater machines were invented. Leading masters of decorative baroque of the 17th century. - B. Buontalenti, G. and A. Parigi, L. Furtenbach, I. Jones, L. Burnacini, G. Mauro, F. Santurini, C. Lotti, and finally G. Torelli, who implemented this Italian system of performance design in Paris, where at the same time another decorative style was taking shape - classicism.

His canon was close to the canon of Renaissance perspectives: the scenery again became the backdrop for the actors. She was, as a rule, single and irremovable. Instead of vertical baroque decorations directed to the sky, they are again horizontal. The idea of ​​the infinity of the world was opposed by the concept of a world that is closed, arranged rationally, according to the laws of reason, harmoniously harmonious, strictly symmetrical, proportionate to a person. Accordingly, the number of scenes has been reduced (compared to baroque). It again (as with Serlio) was reduced to three main plots, which, however, now acquired a slightly different character - more and more interior.

Since the authors of classicist scenery were most often the same masters (Torelli, J. Buffequin, C. Vigarani, G. Berin), who at the same time, in other performances, were the authors of baroque scenery, a natural interpenetration of these two styles took place, as a result of which new style formation: baroque classicism, which then, at the beginning of the 18th century. moved to the Classicist Baroque.

On this basis, the art of decorative baroque of the 18th century developed, which was most vividly represented throughout the century by outstanding Italian masters from the Galli Bibbiena family. The head of the Ferdinando family created images of “spiritualized architecture” (A. Benois’s expression) on stage, the fantastic baroque compositions of which he deployed, however (unlike the artists of the baroque theater of the previous century) on the planes of a painted backdrop, backstage or curtain. Ferdinando's brother Francesco, and his sons Alessandro, Antonio and especially Giuseppe (who reached the true heights of virtuosity and power of compositions of the "triumphant baroque"), and, finally, the grandson Carlo worked in the same spirit. Other representatives of this direction of decorative art are F. Yuvarra, P. Righini and G. Valeriani, who brought the style of “triumphant baroque” to the Russian court scene, where for two decades (40s and 50s of the 18th century) he designed productions of the Italian opera seria.

Parallel to the decorative baroque in the art of designing performances of the 18th century. there were other stylistic trends: on the one hand, coming from the Rococo style, on the other, classicist. The latter were associated with the aesthetics of the Enlightenment, and their representatives G. Servandoni, G. Dumont, P. Brunetti, and most of all P. di G. Gonzaga, an outstanding decorator at the turn of the 19th century. and the author of a number of theoretical treatises written during his years in Russia. Following in many ways the experience of Bibbien, these artists made significant changes, primarily in the nature of decorative images: they painted, although idealized (in the spirit of classicism), but nevertheless, as it were, real motifs, strove (in the spirit of Enlightenment aesthetics) to believable and natural. This orientation of the artists anticipated - especially in the work of Gonzago - the principles of the scenery of the romantic theater of the first half of the 19th century.

The leading position in decorative art was no longer occupied by Italian artists, but by German ones, whose leader was K.F. Schinkel (one of the last major artists of the universal type: an outstanding architect, skilled painter, sculptor, decorator); in other countries, prominent representatives of this trend were: in Poland - J. Smuglevich, in the Czech Republic, then in Vienna - J. Pleiser, in England - F. de Lowtherburg, D.I. Richards, the Grive family, D. Roberto, K. Stanfield; in France - C. Sisseri. In Russia, the experience of German romantic scenery was implemented by A. Roller, his students and followers, one of the most famous was K. Waltz, who was called "the magician and wizard of the stage."

The first characteristic quality of romantic decoration is its dynamism (in this respect it is a continuation of the baroque decoration of the 17th century at a new stage). One of the main objects of stage incarnation was the state of nature, most often catastrophic. And when these terrible elements played their stage “roles”, lyrical landscapes opened before the audience, most often at night - with the moon peeking out from behind disturbing ragged clouds; or rocky, mountainous; or river, lake, sea. At the same time, nature in all its manifestations was embodied by artists not by depicting it on the plane of a theatrical backdrop, but with the help of purely stage machinery, light, movement and various other methods of “revitalizing” the entire three-dimensional volume of the stage space and its transformation. Romantic decorators turned the stage into an open, unrestricted world, capable of accommodating all the variety of all kinds of scenes. In this respect, Shakespeare was a model for them - they relied on him in the struggle against the classicist canon of the unity of place and time.

In the second half of the 19th century romantic scenery evolves first to recreate real historical scenes, only romantically colored and poetically generalized. Then - to the so-called "archaeological naturalism" (which was embodied first in the English productions of the 50s by Ch.Kin), then in the Russian theater (works by M.Shishkov, M.Bocharov, partly by P.Isakov under the authoritative patronage of V.Stasov) and, finally, to the creation on the stage of detailed decorative pictorial compositions on historical themes (productions of the Meiningen theater and performances by G. Ewing).

The next stage in the development of decorative art (directly following from the previous one, but based on completely different aesthetic principles) is naturalism. Unlike the romantics, who, as a rule, turned to creating paintings of the distant past on the stage, in the performances of the naturalistic theater (A. Antoine - in France, O. Brahma - in Germany, D. Grain - in England, finally, K. Stanislavsky and artist V. Simov - in the first productions of the Moscow Art Theater) the scene was modern reality. On the stage, it was as if a “cut out of life” was recreated, as a completely real environment for the existence of the hero of the play.

The next step in this direction was taken in the productions of the Moscow Art Theater, primarily in Chekhov's, where Stanislavsky tried to psychologically "revive" the static "cut out of life", to give it the quality of variability over time, depending on the state of nature at different times of the day and at the same time on the internal characters' experiences. The theater began to look for ways (mainly with the help of a score of light) to create a stage "atmosphere" and stage "mood", new qualities of performance design that can be described as impressionistic. In a somewhat different way, the influence of impressionism was realized in the musical theater - in the scenery and costumes of K. Korovin, who, according to him, sought to create picturesque “music for the eyes” on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, immerse the audience in the dynamic element of color, convey the sun, air, “color breathing » of the surrounding world.

Late 19th - early 20th century the period in the development of the decorative art of the world theater, when Russian masters occupied a leading position in it. Having come to the stage from the fine arts, they are first in Moscow, at the Mammoth Opera (V. Vasnetsov, V. Polenov, M. Vrubel, beginners Korovin and A. Golovin), then in St. Petersburg, where the World of Art society was created ( A. Benois, M. Dobuzhinsky, N. Roerich, L. Bakst and others), enriched the theater with the highest visual spectacle, and in the direction were neo-romantics, for whom the artistic heritage of past centuries was the main value. At the same time, the masters of the “World of Art” circle began stage searches related to the revival - on the basis of modern plastic and theatrical culture (especially symbolism and modern styles) - pre-decorative ways of designing performances: on the one hand, playful (ballet costumes by L. Bakst, “ dancing" together with the actors, and in the dramatic experiments of Vs. Meyerhold - decorated by N. Sapunov, S. Sudeikin, K. Evseev, Yu. in the productions of the same Vs. Meyerhold, expressing the theme of the performance).

This experience of Malevich became a project facing the future. The stage ideas announced at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries also had a design character. Swiss A. Appia and Englishman G. Craig, because although both of them managed to partially realize these ideas on the stage, nevertheless, they received their true and multifaceted development in the subsequent theatrical searches of artists of the 20th century. The essence of the discoveries of these outstanding masters was that they turned decorative art towards the creation of images of a generalized stage environment in the stage space. For Appia, this is the world at the earliest mythopoetic stage of its existence, when it was just beginning to emerge from chaos and acquire some harmonious universal pra-architectural forms, built as monumental platforms and pedestals for rhythmic movement on them - in an open luminous space - of the characters of musical dramas R. Wagner. In Crag, on the contrary, these are heavy monoliths of cubes and parallelepipeds, powerful walls, towers, pylons, pillars that surrounded the small figure of a man, opposed and threatened him, rising to the full height of the stage space and even higher, beyond the visibility of the audience. And if Appia created an open primordial stage environment, then Craig, on the contrary, tightly closed, hopeless, in which the bloody stories of Shakespeare's tragedies were to be played out.

Effective scenography is the newest time.

First half of the 20th century world scenography developed under the strong influence of modern avant-garde art movements (expressionism, cubo-futurism, constructivism, etc.), which stimulated, on the one hand, the development of the latest forms of creating specific places of action and the revival (following Appia and Craig) of the most ancient, generalized, and on the other hand, the activation and even coming to the fore of other functions of scenography: game and character.

Back in the mid-1900s, the artists N. Sapunov and E. Munch composed dramas by G. Ibsen for productions by Vs. Meyerhold and M. Reinhardt ( Hedda Gabler and Ghost) the first scenery, which, while remaining an image of interior scenes, at the same time became the embodiment of the emotional world of the main characters of these dramas. Then experiments in this direction were continued by N. Ulyanov and V. Egorov in symbolist performances by K. Stanislavsky ( drama of life and human life). The pinnacle of these searches was the scenery of M. Dobuzhinsky for the staging Nikolai Stavrogin in the Moscow Art Theater, which are considered a forerunner of psychological scenery, which, in turn, to a large extent absorbed the experience of the scenery art of the theater of expressionism. The essence of this direction was that the rooms, streets, city, landscapes depicted on the stage appeared expressively hyperbolized, often reduced to a symbolic sign, subject to all sorts of distortions of their real appearance, and these distortions conveyed the state of mind of the hero, most often overdramatized, on the verge of tragic grotesque. German artists (L. Sievert, Z. Klein, F. Shefler, E. Barlach) were the first to create such decorations, then they were followed by set designers from the Czech Republic (V. Hoffman), Poland (V. Drabik), Scandinavia and, especially, Russia. Here, a number of experiments of this kind were made in the 1910s by Yu. Annenkov, and in the 1920s by the artists of the Jewish theater (M. Shagal, N. Altman, I. Rabinovich, R. Falk), and in Petrograd-Leningrad - M. Levin and V. Dmitriev, who in the 1930s–1940s became the leading master of psychological decoration ( Anna Kar enina, Three sisters, Last victim at the Moscow Art Theater).

At the same time, decorative art mastered the types of specific places of action. This is, firstly, the “environment” (a common space for both actors and spectators, not separated by any ramp, sometimes completely real, such as, for example, a factory floor in Gas masks at S. Eisenstein, or organized by the art of artists A. Roller - for the productions of M. Reinhardt in the premises of the Berlin circus, the London Olympic Hall, in the Salzburg church, etc., and J. Stoffer and B. Knoblok - for the performances of N. Okhlopkov at the Moscow Realistic Theatre); in the second half of the 20th century. the design of the theater space as an "environment" became the main principle of the work of the architect E. Guravsky in the "poor theater" E. Grotovsky, and then in a variety of options (including natural, natural, street, industrial - factory shops, stations and etc.) has become widely used in all countries. Secondly, a single installation built on the stage, depicting the “house-dwelling” of the heroes of the play with its different rooms, which were shown simultaneously (thus, reminiscent of the simultaneous scenery of medieval mysteries in the square). Thirdly, the scenery paintings, on the contrary, dynamically succeeded each other with the help of the turn of the stage circle or the movement of furoque platforms. Finally, throughout almost the entire 20th century. The World of Art tradition of stylization and retrospectivism remained viable and very fruitful - the re-creation on the stage of the cultural environment of past historical eras and artistic cultures - as specific and real habitats for the heroes of a particular play. (In this spirit continued to work - already outside of Russia - the senior World of Art, and in Moscow and Leningrad - such different masters as F. Fedorovsky, P. Williams, V. Khodasevich and others; from foreign artists this direction was followed by the British H. Stevenson , R.Whistler, J.Beuys, S.Messel, Motley, J.Piper; Poles V.Dashevsky, T.Roshkovskaya, J.Kosinski, O.Akser, K.Frych; Frenchmen K.Berard and Cassander).

In the process of revival of the most ancient, generalized places of action, following the projects of Appia, the most significant contribution was made by the artists of the Moscow Chamber Theater: A. Exter, A. Vesnin, G. Yakulov, brothers V. and G. Stenberg, V. Ryndin. They embodied the idea of ​​A. Tairov that the main design element is the plasticity of the stage, which, according to the director, is “that flexible and obedient keyboard, with the help of which he (actor - V.B.) could most fully reveal your creative will. In the performances of this theater, generalized images appeared, embodying the quintessence of the historical era and its artistic style: Antiquity ( Famira Kifared and Phaedra) and Ancient Judea ( Salome), Gothic Middle Ages ( Annunciation and Holy And oanna) and Italian Baroque ( Princess Brambilla), Russian 19th century ( Thunderstorm) and modern urbanism ( Human, which was Thursday). Other artists of the Russian theater (K.Malevich, A.Lavinsky and V.Khrakovsky, N.Altman) followed the same direction in the 1920s when they created “the whole universe” on the stage, the whole globe as a scene Mystery Buff, or I. Rabinovich, when he composed "the whole of Hellas" staged Lysistrata), as well as artists in other European countries (the German expressionist E. Pirhan in the performances directed by L. Jessner or H. Hekrot in a series of productions in the 1920s of operas by G. Handel) and in America (the famous project of the architect N. Bel-Geddes for stage version Divine Comedy).

The initiative in the process of activating the game and character functions also belonged to the artists of the Russian theater (in the 1920s, as well as in the 1910s, they continued to occupy a leading position in world scenography). A whole series of performances was created in which the rethought principles of the game design of commedia dell'arte and Italian carnival culture were used (I. Nivinsky in Princess Turandot, G.Yakulov Princess Brambilla, V. Dmitriev Pulcinella), Jewish folk action Purimspiel(I. Rabinovich in sorceress), Russian lubok (B. Kustodiev in Lefty, V. Dmitriev Bike about Fox, Rooster, Cat and Ram), finally, circus performances, as the most ancient and most stable tradition of game scenography (Yu. Annenkov in First distillery, V. Khodasevich in circus comedies staged by S. Radlov , G. Kozintsev in getting married, S. Eisenstein in Sage). In the 1930s, this series was continued by the works of A. Tyshler in the gypsy theater "Romen", and on the other hand, the productions of N. Okhlopkov in the design of B. G. Knoblok, V. Gitsevich, V. Koretsky, and above all aristocrats. The visual image of all these performances was built on a varied play of actors with a costume, material accessories and a stage platform, which were solved by artists in various styles: from world art to cubo-futuristic. As one of the options for this kind of scenography, theatrical constructivism appeared in his first and main work - staging Generous cuckold Vs. Meyerhold and L. Popova, where a single constructivist setting became a "device for the game." At the same time, in this performance (as well as in other productions by Meyerhold), the acting scenography acquired the modern quality of functional scenography, each element of which is due to its expedient necessity for the stage action. Having been developed and rethought in the German political theater of E. Piscator, and then in the epic theater of B. Brecht, and finally in the Czech Theatregraph - the light theater of E. Burian - M. Kourzhil, the principle of functional scenography became one of the basic principles of the work of artists in the theater of the second half of the 20th century, where it began to be understood widely and, in a certain sense, universally: as the design of a stage action equally in all three ways inherent in the "genetic code" - game, character and organization of the stage environment. A new system has been effective scenography, which took over the functions of both historically previous systems (game and decoration).

Among the great variety of experiments in the second half of the 20th century. (French researcher D.Bablé described this process as kaleidoscopic), which were carried out in theaters of different countries, using both the latest discoveries of the post-war wave of the plastic avant-garde, and all kinds of advances in technology and technology (especially in the field of stage lighting and kinetics), two most significant trends can be distinguished . The first one is characterized by the assimilation of a new content level by scenography, when the images created by the artist began to visibly embody the main themes and motifs of the play in the performance: the root circumstances of the dramatic conflict, the forces opposing the hero, his inner spiritual world, etc. In this new quality, the set design became the most important, and sometimes the defining character of the performance. So it was in a number of performances by D. Borovsky, D. Leader, E. Kochergin, S. Barkhin, I. Blumbergs, A. Freibergs, G. Gunia and other artists of the Soviet theater of the late 1960s - the first half of the 1970s, when this trend has reached its climax. And then a trend of the opposite nature came to the fore, which manifested itself in the works of the masters, primarily of the Western theater, and occupied a leading position in the theater of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The direction born of this trend (its most prominent representatives are J. Svoboda, V. Minks, A. Mantei, E. Wonder, J. Bari, R. Koltai) can be denoted by the phrase stage design, considering at the same time that the same phrase in the English-language literature generally defines all types of performance design - both decorative, and acting, and character). The main task of the artist here is the design of the space for the stage action and the material-material-light support of each moment of this action. At the same time, in its initial state, the space can often look completely neutral in relation to the play and the style of its author, and not contain any real signs of the time and place of the events taking place in it. All the realities of the stage action, its place and time appear before the viewer only in the course of the performance, when, as it were, from “nothing”, its artistic image is born.

If we try to present a picture of modern world scenography in its full scope, then it contains not only these two tendencies, but it is made up of an inexhaustible multitude of the most diverse individual artistic decisions. Each master works in his own way and creates the most varied design of a stage action - depending on the nature of the dramatic or musical work and on its director's reading, which is the methodological basis of the system of effective scenography.

Victor Berezkin

Literature:

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Mariani Valerio. Storia della Scenografia Italiana. Firenze, 1930
Ricci Corrado. La scenografia Italiana. Milano, 1939
Janos. Baroque and Romantic Stage Design. New York, 1950
F.Ya.Syrkina. Russian theatrical and decorative art of the 2nd half of the 19th century. M., 1956
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Zenobiusz. Kierunki scenografii wspolezesnej. Warzawa, 1970
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Berezkin V.I. The art of scenography of the world theater. Masters. M., 2002



The content of the article

SCENOGRAPHY, a type of artistic creativity that deals with the design of a performance and the creation of its figurative-plastic image that exists in stage time and space. In the performance, the art of scenography includes everything that surrounds the actor (decoration), everything he deals with - plays, acts (tangible attributes) and everything that is on his figure (costume, makeup, mask, other elements of transformation). his appearance). At the same time, scenography can use as expressive means: firstly, what is created by nature, secondly, objects and textures of everyday life or production, and, thirdly, what is born as a result of the artist’s creative activity (from masks, costumes, real props to painting, graphics, stage space, light, dynamics, etc.)

Prehistory - prescenography.

The origins of scenography prescenography the action of the ritual-ceremonial pre-theater (both the most ancient, prehistoric, and folklore, preserved in its residual forms to this day). The “genetic code” was already manifested in the pre-scenography, the subsequent implementation of which determined the main stages of the historical development of the art of scenography from antiquity to the present day. This "genetic code" contains all three main functions that scenography is capable of performing in a performance: character, acting, and designating the scene. Character - involves the inclusion of scenography in the stage action as an independently significant material, plastic, pictorial or any other (by means of embodiment) character - an equal partner of the performers, and often the main acting "person". Game function - is expressed in the direct participation of scenography and its individual elements (costume, makeup, mask, material accessories) in the transformation of the actor's appearance and in his game. The function of designating the scene is to organize the environment in which the events of the performance take place.

character function was predominant at the stage of prescenography. At the center of ritual and ceremonial actions was an object that embodied the image of a deity or some higher power: various figures (including ancient sculptures), all kinds of idols, totems, stuffed animals (Shrovetide. Carnival, etc.), different types of images (including the same wall drawings in ancient caves), trees and other plants (up to the modern Christmas tree), bonfires and other types of fire, as the embodiment of the image of the sun.

At the same time, the prescenography also performed two other functions - the organization of the scene and the game. The place of action of ritual actions and performances was of three types. The first type (generalized scene) is the most ancient, born of mythopoetic consciousness and carrying the semantic meaning of the universe (a square is a sign of the Earth, a circle is the sign of the Sun; different versions of the vertical model of the cosmos: a world tree, a mountain, a pillar, a ladder; a ritual ship, a boat , boat; finally, the temple, as an architectural image of the universe). The second type (a specific scene of action) is the environment of his life surrounding a person: natural, industrial, domestic: forest, glade, hills, mountains, road, street, peasant yard, the house itself and its interior - a light room. And the third type (pre-stage) was the incarnation of the other two: the stage could be any space, separated from the audience and becoming a place for playing.

Game scenography - Antiquity, Middle Ages.

From this moment, the theater itself begins, as an independent type of artistic creativity, and begins game scenography, as historically the first design system for his performances. At the same time, in the most ancient forms of theatrical performances, especially in ancient and oriental ones (which remained closest to the ritual ritual pre-theater), scenographic characters continued to occupy a significant position, on the one hand, and generalized scenes of action, as images of the universe, on the other hand (for example, orchestra and proscenium in ancient Greek tragedy). An increase in the share of play scenography occurred as the historical movement of the theater from the mythopoetic to the secular. The Renaissance-born Italian commedia dell'arte and Shakespeare's theater were the peak of this movement. It was here that the performance design system, based on the play-action-manipulation of actors with elements of scenography, reached its culmination, after which for several centuries (up to the 20th century inclusive) it was replaced by a different design system - decorative art, the main function of which was to create an image places of action.

Decorative art - Renaissance and Modern times.

decorative art(whose elements existed earlier, for example, in the ancient theater and in the European medieval - the simultaneous (simultaneously showing different scenes of action: from heaven to hell, located on the stage in a straight line frontally) the scenery of the areal mysteries), as a special system for the design of performances, was born in the Italian court theater of the late 15th-16th centuries, in the form of the so-called. decorative perspectives depicting (similar to the paintings of Renaissance painters) the world surrounding a person, as it were: the squares and cities of an ideal city or an ideal rural landscape. The author of one of the first such decorative perspectives was the great architect D. Bramante. The artists who created them were masters of a universal warehouse (at the same time architects, painters, and sculptors) - B. Peruzzi, Bastiano de Sangallo, B. Lanci, and finally S. Serlio, who in the treatise About the scene formulated three canonical types of perspective scenery (for tragedy, for comedy and for pastoral) and the main principle of their location in relation to the actors: the performers are in the foreground, the painted scenery is in depth, as a pictorial background. The architectural masterpiece of A. Palladio, the Olimpico Theater in Vincenzo (1580–1585), became the perfect embodiment of this Italian decorative system.

The subsequent centuries of the evolution of decorative art are closely connected, on the one hand, with the development of the main artistic styles of world culture, and, on the other hand, with the internal process of development and technical equipment of the stage space.

Thus, the Baroque style became decisive in the decorative art of the 17th century. Now it has become an environment that surrounds them from all sides and is created in the entire space of the scene-box. At the same time, the types of scenes themselves have expanded significantly. The action was transferred to the underwater kingdoms and to the heavenly spheres. The scenery paintings expressed the baroque idea of ​​the infinity and infinity of the world, in which man is no longer the measure of all things (as it was in the Renaissance), but only a small particle of this world. Another feature of the scenery of the 17th century. - their dynamism and variability: on the stage (and on the "earth", and under the "water", and in the "heavens") many of the most fantastic, mythological metamorphoses, events, transformations took place. Technically, instantaneous changes of some pictures by others were made first with the help of telaria (trihedral rotating prisms). Then rocker mechanisms and a whole system of theater machines were invented. Leading masters of decorative baroque of the 17th century. - B. Buontalenti, G. and A. Parigi, L. Furtenbach, I. Jones, L. Burnacini, G. Mauro, F. Santurini, C. Lotti, and finally G. Torelli, who implemented this Italian system of performance design in Paris, where at the same time another decorative style was taking shape - classicism.

His canon was close to the canon of Renaissance perspectives: the scenery again became the backdrop for the actors. She was, as a rule, single and irremovable. Instead of vertical baroque decorations directed to the sky, they are again horizontal. The idea of ​​the infinity of the world was opposed by the concept of a world that is closed, arranged rationally, according to the laws of reason, harmoniously harmonious, strictly symmetrical, proportionate to a person. Accordingly, the number of scenes has been reduced (compared to baroque). It again (as with Serlio) was reduced to three main plots, which, however, now acquired a slightly different character - more and more interior.

Since the authors of classicist scenery were most often the same masters (Torelli, J. Buffequin, C. Vigarani, G. Berin), who at the same time, in other performances, were the authors of baroque scenery, a natural interpenetration of these two styles took place, as a result of which new style formation: baroque classicism, which then, at the beginning of the 18th century. moved to the Classicist Baroque.

On this basis, the art of decorative baroque of the 18th century developed, which was most vividly represented throughout the century by outstanding Italian masters from the Galli Bibbiena family. The head of the Ferdinando family created images of “spiritualized architecture” (A. Benois’s expression) on stage, the fantastic baroque compositions of which he deployed, however (unlike the artists of the baroque theater of the previous century) on the planes of a painted backdrop, backstage or curtain. Ferdinando's brother Francesco, and his sons Alessandro, Antonio and especially Giuseppe (who reached the true heights of virtuosity and power of compositions of the "triumphant baroque"), and, finally, the grandson Carlo worked in the same spirit. Other representatives of this direction of decorative art are F. Yuvarra, P. Righini and G. Valeriani, who brought the style of “triumphant baroque” to the Russian court scene, where for two decades (40s and 50s of the 18th century) he designed productions of the Italian opera seria.

Parallel to the decorative baroque in the art of designing performances of the 18th century. there were other stylistic trends: on the one hand, coming from the Rococo style, on the other, classicist. The latter were associated with the aesthetics of the Enlightenment, and their representatives G. Servandoni, G. Dumont, P. Brunetti, and most of all P. di G. Gonzaga, an outstanding decorator at the turn of the 19th century. and the author of a number of theoretical treatises written during his years in Russia. Following in many ways the experience of Bibbien, these artists made significant changes, primarily in the nature of decorative images: they painted, although idealized (in the spirit of classicism), but nevertheless, as it were, real motifs, strove (in the spirit of Enlightenment aesthetics) to believable and natural. This orientation of the artists anticipated - especially in the work of Gonzago - the principles of the scenery of the romantic theater of the first half of the 19th century.

The leading position in decorative art was no longer occupied by Italian artists, but by German ones, whose leader was K.F. Schinkel (one of the last major artists of the universal type: an outstanding architect, skilled painter, sculptor, decorator); in other countries, prominent representatives of this trend were: in Poland - J. Smuglevich, in the Czech Republic, then in Vienna - J. Pleiser, in England - F. de Lowtherburg, D.I. Richards, the Grive family, D. Roberto, K. Stanfield; in France - C. Sisseri. In Russia, the experience of German romantic scenery was implemented by A. Roller, his students and followers, one of the most famous was K. Waltz, who was called "the magician and wizard of the stage."

The first characteristic quality of romantic decoration is its dynamism (in this respect it is a continuation of the baroque decoration of the 17th century at a new stage). One of the main objects of stage incarnation was the state of nature, most often catastrophic. And when these terrible elements played their stage “roles”, lyrical landscapes opened before the audience, most often at night - with the moon peeking out from behind disturbing ragged clouds; or rocky, mountainous; or river, lake, sea. At the same time, nature in all its manifestations was embodied by artists not by depicting it on the plane of a theatrical backdrop, but with the help of purely stage machinery, light, movement and various other methods of “revitalizing” the entire three-dimensional volume of the stage space and its transformation. Romantic decorators turned the stage into an open, unrestricted world, capable of accommodating all the variety of all kinds of scenes. In this respect, Shakespeare was a model for them - they relied on him in the struggle against the classicist canon of the unity of place and time.

In the second half of the 19th century romantic scenery evolves first to recreate real historical scenes, only romantically colored and poetically generalized. Then - to the so-called "archaeological naturalism" (which was embodied first in the English productions of the 50s by Ch.Kin), then in the Russian theater (works by M.Shishkov, M.Bocharov, partly by P.Isakov under the authoritative patronage of V.Stasov) and, finally, to the creation on the stage of detailed decorative pictorial compositions on historical themes (productions of the Meiningen theater and performances by G. Ewing).

The next stage in the development of decorative art (directly following from the previous one, but based on completely different aesthetic principles) is naturalism. Unlike the romantics, who, as a rule, turned to creating paintings of the distant past on the stage, in the performances of the naturalistic theater (A. Antoine - in France, O. Brahma - in Germany, D. Grain - in England, finally, K. Stanislavsky and artist V. Simov - in the first productions of the Moscow Art Theater) the scene was modern reality. On the stage, it was as if a “cut out of life” was recreated, as a completely real environment for the existence of the hero of the play.

The next step in this direction was taken in the productions of the Moscow Art Theater, primarily in Chekhov's, where Stanislavsky tried to psychologically "revive" the static "cut out of life", to give it the quality of variability over time, depending on the state of nature at different times of the day and at the same time on the internal characters' experiences. The theater began to look for ways (mainly with the help of a score of light) to create a stage "atmosphere" and stage "mood", new qualities of performance design that can be described as impressionistic. In a somewhat different way, the influence of impressionism was realized in the musical theater - in the scenery and costumes of K. Korovin, who, according to him, sought to create picturesque “music for the eyes” on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, immerse the audience in the dynamic element of color, convey the sun, air, “color breathing » of the surrounding world.

Late 19th - early 20th century the period in the development of the decorative art of the world theater, when Russian masters occupied a leading position in it. Having come to the stage from the fine arts, they are first in Moscow, at the Mammoth Opera (V. Vasnetsov, V. Polenov, M. Vrubel, beginners Korovin and A. Golovin), then in St. Petersburg, where the World of Art society was created ( A. Benois, M. Dobuzhinsky, N. Roerich, L. Bakst and others), enriched the theater with the highest visual spectacle, and in the direction were neo-romantics, for whom the artistic heritage of past centuries was the main value. At the same time, the masters of the “World of Art” circle began stage searches related to the revival - on the basis of modern plastic and theatrical culture (especially symbolism and modern styles) - pre-decorative ways of designing performances: on the one hand, playful (ballet costumes by L. Bakst, “ dancing" together with the actors, and in the dramatic experiments of Vs. Meyerhold - decorated by N. Sapunov, S. Sudeikin, K. Evseev, Yu. in the productions of the same Vs. Meyerhold, expressing the theme of the performance).

This experience of Malevich became a project facing the future. The stage ideas announced at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries also had a design character. Swiss A. Appia and Englishman G. Craig, because although both of them managed to partially realize these ideas on the stage, nevertheless, they received their true and multifaceted development in the subsequent theatrical searches of artists of the 20th century. The essence of the discoveries of these outstanding masters was that they turned decorative art towards the creation of images of a generalized stage environment in the stage space. For Appia, this is the world at the earliest mythopoetic stage of its existence, when it was just beginning to emerge from chaos and acquire some harmonious universal pra-architectural forms, built as monumental platforms and pedestals for rhythmic movement on them - in an open luminous space - of the characters of musical dramas R. Wagner. In Crag, on the contrary, these are heavy monoliths of cubes and parallelepipeds, powerful walls, towers, pylons, pillars that surrounded the small figure of a man, opposed and threatened him, rising to the full height of the stage space and even higher, beyond the visibility of the audience. And if Appia created an open primordial stage environment, then Craig, on the contrary, tightly closed, hopeless, in which the bloody stories of Shakespeare's tragedies were to be played out.

Effective scenography is the newest time.

First half of the 20th century world scenography developed under the strong influence of modern avant-garde art movements (expressionism, cubo-futurism, constructivism, etc.), which stimulated, on the one hand, the development of the latest forms of creating specific places of action and the revival (following Appia and Craig) of the most ancient, generalized, and on the other hand, the activation and even coming to the fore of other functions of scenography: game and character.

Back in the mid-1900s, the artists N. Sapunov and E. Munch composed dramas by G. Ibsen for productions by Vs. Meyerhold and M. Reinhardt ( Hedda Gabler and Ghost) the first scenery, which, while remaining an image of interior scenes, at the same time became the embodiment of the emotional world of the main characters of these dramas. Then experiments in this direction were continued by N. Ulyanov and V. Egorov in symbolist performances by K. Stanislavsky ( drama of life and human life). The pinnacle of these searches was the scenery of M. Dobuzhinsky for the staging Nikolai Stavrogin in the Moscow Art Theater, which are considered a forerunner of psychological scenery, which, in turn, to a large extent absorbed the experience of the scenery art of the theater of expressionism. The essence of this direction was that the rooms, streets, city, landscapes depicted on the stage appeared expressively hyperbolized, often reduced to a symbolic sign, subject to all sorts of distortions of their real appearance, and these distortions conveyed the state of mind of the hero, most often overdramatized, on the verge of tragic grotesque. German artists (L. Sievert, Z. Klein, F. Shefler, E. Barlach) were the first to create such decorations, then they were followed by set designers from the Czech Republic (V. Hoffman), Poland (V. Drabik), Scandinavia and, especially, Russia. Here, a number of experiments of this kind were made in the 1910s by Yu. Annenkov, and in the 1920s by the artists of the Jewish theater (M. Shagal, N. Altman, I. Rabinovich, R. Falk), and in Petrograd-Leningrad - M. Levin and V. Dmitriev, who in the 1930s–1940s became the leading master of psychological decoration ( Anna Kar enina, Three sisters, Last victim at the Moscow Art Theater).

At the same time, decorative art mastered the types of specific places of action. This is, firstly, the “environment” (a common space for both actors and spectators, not separated by any ramp, sometimes completely real, such as, for example, a factory floor in Gas masks at S. Eisenstein, or organized by the art of artists A. Roller - for the productions of M. Reinhardt in the premises of the Berlin circus, the London Olympic Hall, in the Salzburg church, etc., and J. Stoffer and B. Knoblok - for the performances of N. Okhlopkov at the Moscow Realistic Theatre); in the second half of the 20th century. the design of the theater space as an "environment" became the main principle of the work of the architect E. Guravsky in the "poor theater" E. Grotovsky, and then in a variety of options (including natural, natural, street, industrial - factory shops, stations and etc.) has become widely used in all countries. Secondly, a single installation built on the stage, depicting the “house-dwelling” of the heroes of the play with its different rooms, which were shown simultaneously (thus, reminiscent of the simultaneous scenery of medieval mysteries in the square). Thirdly, the scenery paintings, on the contrary, dynamically succeeded each other with the help of the turn of the stage circle or the movement of furoque platforms. Finally, throughout almost the entire 20th century. The World of Art tradition of stylization and retrospectivism remained viable and very fruitful - the re-creation on the stage of the cultural environment of past historical eras and artistic cultures - as specific and real habitats for the heroes of a particular play. (In this spirit continued to work - already outside of Russia - the senior World of Art, and in Moscow and Leningrad - such different masters as F. Fedorovsky, P. Williams, V. Khodasevich and others; from foreign artists this direction was followed by the British H. Stevenson , R.Whistler, J.Beuys, S.Messel, Motley, J.Piper; Poles V.Dashevsky, T.Roshkovskaya, J.Kosinski, O.Akser, K.Frych; Frenchmen K.Berard and Cassander).

In the process of revival of the most ancient, generalized places of action, following the projects of Appia, the most significant contribution was made by the artists of the Moscow Chamber Theater: A. Exter, A. Vesnin, G. Yakulov, brothers V. and G. Stenberg, V. Ryndin. They embodied the idea of ​​A. Tairov that the main design element is the plasticity of the stage, which, according to the director, is “that flexible and obedient keyboard, with the help of which he (actor - V.B.) could most fully reveal your creative will. In the performances of this theater, generalized images appeared, embodying the quintessence of the historical era and its artistic style: Antiquity ( Famira Kifared and Phaedra) and Ancient Judea ( Salome), Gothic Middle Ages ( Annunciation and Holy And oanna) and Italian Baroque ( Princess Brambilla), Russian 19th century ( Thunderstorm) and modern urbanism ( Human, which was Thursday). Other artists of the Russian theater (K.Malevich, A.Lavinsky and V.Khrakovsky, N.Altman) followed the same direction in the 1920s when they created “the whole universe” on the stage, the whole globe as a scene Mystery Buff, or I. Rabinovich, when he composed "the whole of Hellas" staged Lysistrata), as well as artists in other European countries (the German expressionist E. Pirhan in the performances directed by L. Jessner or H. Hekrot in a series of productions in the 1920s of operas by G. Handel) and in America (the famous project of the architect N. Bel-Geddes for stage version Divine Comedy).

The initiative in the process of activating the game and character functions also belonged to the artists of the Russian theater (in the 1920s, as well as in the 1910s, they continued to occupy a leading position in world scenography). A whole series of performances was created in which the rethought principles of the game design of commedia dell'arte and Italian carnival culture were used (I. Nivinsky in Princess Turandot, G.Yakulov Princess Brambilla, V. Dmitriev Pulcinella), Jewish folk action Purimspiel(I. Rabinovich in sorceress), Russian lubok (B. Kustodiev in Lefty, V. Dmitriev Bike about Fox, Rooster, Cat and Ram), finally, circus performances, as the most ancient and most stable tradition of game scenography (Yu. Annenkov in First distillery, V. Khodasevich in circus comedies staged by S. Radlov , G. Kozintsev in getting married, S. Eisenstein in Sage). In the 1930s, this series was continued by the works of A. Tyshler in the gypsy theater "Romen", and on the other hand, the productions of N. Okhlopkov in the design of B. G. Knoblok, V. Gitsevich, V. Koretsky, and above all aristocrats. The visual image of all these performances was built on a varied play of actors with a costume, material accessories and a stage platform, which were solved by artists in various styles: from world art to cubo-futuristic. As one of the options for this kind of scenography, theatrical constructivism appeared in his first and main work - staging Generous cuckold Vs. Meyerhold and L. Popova, where a single constructivist setting became a "device for the game." At the same time, in this performance (as well as in other productions by Meyerhold), the acting scenography acquired the modern quality of functional scenography, each element of which is due to its expedient necessity for the stage action. Having been developed and rethought in the German political theater of E. Piscator, and then in the epic theater of B. Brecht, and finally in the Czech Theatregraph - the light theater of E. Burian - M. Kourzhil, the principle of functional scenography became one of the basic principles of the work of artists in the theater of the second half of the 20th century, where it began to be understood widely and, in a certain sense, universally: as the design of a stage action equally in all three ways inherent in the "genetic code" - game, character and organization of the stage environment. A new system has been effective scenography, which took over the functions of both historically previous systems (game and decoration).

Among the great variety of experiments in the second half of the 20th century. (French researcher D.Bablé described this process as kaleidoscopic), which were carried out in theaters of different countries, using both the latest discoveries of the post-war wave of the plastic avant-garde, and all kinds of advances in technology and technology (especially in the field of stage lighting and kinetics), two most significant trends can be distinguished . The first one is characterized by the assimilation of a new content level by scenography, when the images created by the artist began to visibly embody the main themes and motifs of the play in the performance: the root circumstances of the dramatic conflict, the forces opposing the hero, his inner spiritual world, etc. In this new quality, the set design became the most important, and sometimes the defining character of the performance. So it was in a number of performances by D. Borovsky, D. Leader, E. Kochergin, S. Barkhin, I. Blumbergs, A. Freibergs, G. Gunia and other artists of the Soviet theater of the late 1960s - the first half of the 1970s, when this trend has reached its climax. And then a trend of the opposite nature came to the fore, which manifested itself in the works of the masters, primarily of the Western theater, and occupied a leading position in the theater of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The direction born of this trend (its most prominent representatives are J. Svoboda, V. Minks, A. Mantei, E. Wonder, J. Bari, R. Koltai) can be denoted by the phrase stage design, considering at the same time that the same phrase in the English-language literature generally defines all types of performance design - both decorative, and acting, and character). The main task of the artist here is the design of the space for the stage action and the material-material-light support of each moment of this action. At the same time, in its initial state, the space can often look completely neutral in relation to the play and the style of its author, and not contain any real signs of the time and place of the events taking place in it. All the realities of the stage action, its place and time appear before the viewer only in the course of the performance, when, as it were, from “nothing”, its artistic image is born.

If we try to present a picture of modern world scenography in its full scope, then it contains not only these two tendencies, but it is made up of an inexhaustible multitude of the most diverse individual artistic decisions. Each master works in his own way and creates the most varied design of a stage action - depending on the nature of the dramatic or musical work and on its director's reading, which is the methodological basis of the system of effective scenography.

Victor Berezkin

Literature:

Paul. Die Theater decoration des Classizismus. Berlin, 1925
Paul. Die Theater decoration des Barock. Berlin, 1925
Mariani Valerio. Storia della Scenografia Italiana. Firenze, 1930
Ricci Corrado. La scenografia Italiana. Milano, 1939
Janos. Baroque and Romantic Stage Design. New York, 1950
F.Ya.Syrkina. Russian theatrical and decorative art of the 2nd half of the 19th century. M., 1956
Denis. Eathetique generale du decou de theater de 1870 and 1914. Paris, 1963
Zenobiusz. Kierunki scenografii wspolezesnej. Warzawa, 1970
M. Zaklady teoreticke scenografie.1.dil.Uvodni uvahy. Prague, 1970
M.N. Pozharskaya. Russian theatrical and decorative art of the late 19th - early 20th century. M., 1970
S. A Short History of Scene Design in Great Britain. Oxford, 1973
M.V. Davydova. Essays on the history of Russian theatrical and decorative art of the 18th - early 20th centuries. M., 1974
Denis. Les Revolutions Scenes du XX siecle. Paris, 1975
F.Ya.Syrkina, E.M.Kostina. Russian theatrical and decorative art. M., 1978
Ptackova Vera. Ceska scenografie XX century. Prague, 1982
Strzelecki Zenobiusz. Wspolczesna scenografie polska. Warzawa, 1983
R.I.Vlasova. Russian theatrical and decorative art of the early twentieth century. The legacy of the St. Petersburg masters. L., 1984
Die Maler and das Theater in 20. Jahrhundert. Frankfurt, 1986
Berezkin V.I. The art of scenography of the world theater. From the beginnings to the middle of the twentieth century. M., 1997
Berezkin V.I. The art of scenography of the world theater. Second half of the 20th century. M., 2001
Berezkin V.I. The art of scenography of the world theater. Masters. M., 2002


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