Society and Culture: Exhibition "The Vakhtangov Theatre and the Library - A Century Together" presented in the Russian State Library of Arts

Exhibition "The Vakhtangov Theatre and the Library - A Century Together" was opened at the Museum of the Russian State Library of Arts. Unique materials from the collections of the Russian State Library of Arts allow tracing the century-old history of the famous theatre.

In the early 1920s, directors, decorators and actors engaged the materials of the recently created theatre library (now the Russian State Library of Arts) to create scenery, costumes and stage characters for the performances in the new Moscow theatre. Employees of the Vakhtangov theatre not only used the library collections but also contributed to their development. They donated books, sketches of costumes and scenery, photographs of actors and scenes from performances, theatre programs, invitations, which are now exhibits of the library's Museum.

The exhibition presents highlights from the collection of publications about theatre and rare photographs, collected by the first director of the Vakhtangov Theatre Museum Alexander Pavlovich Gaziev and his son Yuri Alexandrovich - the legendary literary manager of the theatre. Their collection features a photo of Vakhtangov (1915) with his autograph, books with commemorative inscriptions and drawings.

The exposition showcases the unique harmless caricatures of actors by the famous artist Boris Shchukin.

The exposition comprises rarest French editions of the XIX century. The artist Zinovy Margolin used them, making the scenery for the benefit performance by Vasily Lanovoy "Frederic, or Boulevard of Crimes" in 2002.

The exhibition includes the sketches of costumes created at the library. The costumes for the play "Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man" from the Vakhtangov Theatre collection are of particular interest. The Russian State Library of Arts displays sketches of the same costumes by N. A. Shneider-Khachaturian and photographs with Lyudmila Maksakova as Mamayeva and Alla Kazanskaya as Turusina.

Many actors of the Vakhtangov Theatre were readers of the library. The exposition presents readers' requests of Grigory Abrikosov, Larisa Pashkova, Lyudmila Maksakova, and Vladimir Etush. Actors became readers as students of the Shchukin School and remained loyal to the library as honourable artists.

The exhibition runs throughout 2021.