Vladimir Polunin

Vladimir Polunin
Владимир Полунин
Born
Vladimir Jacolievitch Polunin

1880 (1880)
Moscow, Moscow Governorate, Russian Empire
Died11 March 1957(1957-03-11) (aged 76–77)
Godalming, Surrey, England, UK
Occupations
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1907; died 1950)​
Children4 including,

Vladimir Jacolievitch Polunin[a] (Russian: Владимир Яковлевич Полунин; 1880 – 11 March 1957) was a Russian scenographer, set designer and educator.[1][2]

Biography

Polunin was born in 1880 in Moscow, Moscow Governorate (present-day Moscow Oblast, Russia) to Yasha Akimovich Polunin[b] and Olya Okorokova.[1][3][4] Polunin was the youngest of five siblings.[4] He earned a degree in forestry in St. Petersburg and later studied art in Munich and Paris, specializing in tempera and distemper painting.[5] In 1908 Polunin and his wife moved to England and settled in London.[1]

By 1914, Polunin was working with Boris Anisfeld on the designs for Vaslav Nijinsky's ill-fated season at the Palace Theatre.[6] In 1918 he began working on the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, creating stage sets from artists' designs, and maintained and restored stage cloths.[7] He eventually became Diaghilev's chief scene-painter.[8] At this time, Pablo Picasso painted sets under his direction.[9] In 1929,[10][11] he founded the stage painting department at the Slade School of Fine Art,[12] teaching there for 20 years.[5]

Polunin's 1957 book Three Generations: Family Life in Russia, 1845–1902 was published posthumously.[4]

Personal life

On 1 September 1908 (O.S.)[c], Polunin married the artist and scenic designer Elizabeth Polunin (née Hart) in St. Petersburg.[1][3] The couple had four children, the botanists Nicholas Vladimir Polunin and Oleg Polunin, the piano teacher Tanya Polunin and the physician Ivan Polunin.[1][13][14]

Polunin died on 11 March 1957 in Godalming, Surrey.[1][15]

Publication

  • The Continental Method of Scene Painting: Seven Years With the Diaghileff Company.[16]
  • Polunin, Vladimir (1957). Three Generations: Family Life in Russia, 1845–1902. Translated by Birch-Jones, A.F. London: Leonard Hill.

Notes

  1. ↑ Also anglicised as Vladimir Yakovlevich Polunin.[1]
  2. ↑ Also cited as Jakof Akimovich Polunin.[3]
  3. ↑ Also cited as 1907.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Vladimir Polunin designer". Ben Uri Research Unit. Ben Uri Gallery & Museum. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  2. ↑ Polunin, Vladimir (1980) [First published 1927], Dust Jacket from The Continental Method of Scene Painting, London: Dance Books Ltd., ISBN 0903102579, retrieved 12 November 2024
  3. 1 2 3 "Vladimir Jakovlevich Polunin and Elizabeth Violet Hart [marriage record]". Russia, Select Marriages, 1793–1919 [database online]. 9: 7. 1908.
  4. 1 2 3 Polunin, Vladimir (1957). Three Generations: Family Life in Russia, 1845–1902. Translated by Birch-Jones, A.F. London: Leonard Hill.
  5. 1 2 "Mr. Vladimir Polunin". The Times (Obituary). No. 53792. London. 18 March 1957. p. 10.
  6. ↑ Haskell, Arnold, ed. (1958). The Ballet Annual : A Record and Year Book of the Ballet. Vol. 12. New York: The MacMillan Company. p. 149. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  7. ↑ Polunin, Vladimir (1980) [First published 1927], Dust Jacket from The Continental Method of Scene Painting, London: Dance Books Ltd., ISBN 0903102579, retrieved 12 November 2024
  8. ↑ Haskell and Clarke, (p. 149); and Boston, (p. 73)
  9. ↑ Buckman, David (1998). Dictionary of artists in Britain since 1945. Art Dictionaries Ltd. p. 982. ISBN 0953260909. Retrieved 19 January 2026.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ↑ "History of Slade School of Fine Art". n.d. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  11. ↑ Zweigbergk, Britta von (2007). Tony's war: the life and times of a WW2 Typhoon pilot. Pegasus Elliot Mackenzie Pu. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-84386-291-8.
  12. ↑ Kennedy, Maevy (10 November 2001). "Slade's School of Stage Design to Close". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 10 May 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  13. ↑ Westing, Arthur (16 December 1997). "Obituary: Nicholas Polunin". The Independent.
  14. ↑ Hattersley-Smith, G. (23 September 2004). "Polunin, Oleg Vladimirovitch (1914–1985), botanist and traveller". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/68834. Retrieved 25 June 2026. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  15. ↑ "Wills and Bequests - Polunin, Mr. Vladimir". The Times (Death Notice). No. 53872. London. 20 June 1957. p. 12.
  16. ↑ The Continental Method of Scene Painting: Seven Years With the Diaghileff Company on WorldCat
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