Alexander Golovin

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_{Alexandr Golovin Self-Portrait, 1919}

Russian-born Alexander Golovin was a painter, interior decorator, illustrator and stage designer, known for working with Sergei Diaghilev, Constantin Stanislavski and Vsevolod Meyerhold. After studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, he began his career as an interior painter and decorator.

In 1900, Golovin collaborated with Konstantin Korovin on the design of the Russian Empire Pavilion at the Paris World’s Fair, and with Mikhail Vrubel on a majolica frieze for the Metropol Hotel in Moscow, before moving to Saint Petersburg. There he made his name as a stage designer working for the Imperial Theatres, combining symbolism and modernism in both operatic and dramatic productions for Diaghilev, Meyerhold and others. In 1910, he provided the set and costume designs for Stravinsky’s Firebird ballet.

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_{The Russian Pavilion at “L’Exposition Universelle de Paris, 1900″}

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_{Aleksandr Golovin, Orpheus, majolica panel, 1901, Hotel Metropol, Moscow, Russia}

Costume Design

Set Design:

_{The original “mourning curtain” from the 1917 production, “Masquerade, Courtesy Alexandrinsky Theater}

_{Set design for the eBall Scene (Scene 8) in “Masquerade” by Mikhail Lermontov. Alexandrinsky Theatre, Petrograd, premiered February 25 1917}, _{© Bakhrushin Theatre Museum, Moscow}

_{Set design for a Square in the Kremlin in “Boris Godunov”, opera by Modest Mussorgsky.”Ballets Russes”, Paris, 1908 © Bakhrushin Theatre Museum, Moscow}

_{Set design for Elysium, Act II, Scene 2 in “Orpheus and Eurydice”, opera by Christoph von Gluck. 1911 © Bakhrushin Theatre Museum, Moscow}

_{Set design for Molière’s “Don Juan” at the Alexandrinsky Theatre, 1910. © Russian Museum}

_{Set design for backdrop, Act I, “The NIghtingale”. 1918 © Sam Sargent Photography}

_{Set design for the Porcelain Palace of the Emperor of China, Act II, “The Nghtingale”. 1918 © Sam Sargent Photography}

_{Set design (development version) for “The Nightingale”, opera by Igor Stravinsky. Mariinsky Theatre, Petrograd, premiered May 30 1918 © Bakhrushin Theatre Museum, Moscow}

_{Set design for Act III, “The Nightingale”. 1918 Private collection. © Sam Sargent Photography. Detail}

Visit Golovin’s Hall at the Alexandrinsky Theater Museum

Long form articles:

https://www.tretyakovgallerymagazine.com/articles/4-2019-65/staging-future-meyerhold-and-golovin-lost-production-nightingale

https://www.tretyakovgallerymagazine.com/articles/3-2014-44/alexander-golovins-art-nouveau-behind-curtain-style

https://www.tretyakovgallerymagazine.com/articles/3-2014-44/anniversary-exhibition-alexander-golovin

https://www.rbth.com/arts/2017/07/27/curtains-up-shoot-how-theater-survived-the-1917-revolution-amid-gunfire_812446