«Alexander Kuznetsov. Favorites». Personal exhibition of the Pushkin Kursk Drama Theatre’s set designer

Alexander Kuznetsov, set designer of the Pushkin Kursk Drama Theatre, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, has been professionally engaged in scenography for 40 years. He started in the 1970’s and today he has 300 performances. He became a laureate of the State Prize of Russia for the production «Hop» based on the novel by A. Cherkasov.

The performances of Alexander Kuznetsov are beautiful, laconic, strict and ingenious: they can be seen in theatres of Minusinsk, Ufa, Nizhny Tagil, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Ryazan and Kursk. His set design is always a single installation capable of transformation and not overloaded with details. According to Kuznetsov, the stage is a podium for an actor, not for a designer.

Looking at the set models and sketches at the exhibition, it is easy to determine the designer’s passion for Russian and world classics: Chekhov, Gorky, Pushkin, Gogol, Ostrovsky, Brecht, Shakespeare, Volodin, Astafiev… Created in close cooperation with stage directors, designer’s set solutions can tell much about the life of contemporaries.

In addition to theatrical works, the exhibition presents paintings on biblical subjects: the author’s bold reading of Old Testament history. Quotes from the Bible and the artist’s poems are intertwined in picturesque canvases. The pictures have a smooth enamel surface, they are made with acrylic on the sheets of fiberboard plates – «out of theatrical habit», as Alexander Kuznetsov says.

Alexander Kuznetsov had already personal exhibitions in Moscow, but it is his first personal display at the Bakhrushin Museum. 11 models, 78 sketches, 32 paintings and 9 poetic works are shown in the hall of the Eastern facade. This is a small part of the artist’s works, that’s why the exposition is called «Favorites».