Vladimir Jacolievitch Polunin (; 1880 – 11 March 1957) was a Russian scenographer, set designer and educator.
Biography Polunin was born in 1880 in Moscow, Moscow Governorate (present-day Moscow Oblast, Russia) to Yasha Akimovich Polunin and Olya Okorokova. Polunin was the youngest of five siblings. He earned a degree in forestry in St. Petersburg and later studied art in Munich and Paris, specializing in tempera and distemper painting. In 1908 Polunin and his wife moved to England and settled in London.
By 1914, Polunin was working with Boris Anisfeld on the designs for Vaslav Nijinsky's ill-fated season at the Palace Theatre. In 1918 he began working on the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, creating stage sets from artists' designs, and maintained and restored stage cloths. He eventually became Diaghilev's chief scene-painter.Haskell and Clarke, (); and Boston, () At this time, Pablo Picasso painted sets under his direction. In 1929, he founded the stage painting department at the Slade School of Fine Art, teaching there for 20 years.
Polunin's 1957 book Three Generations: Family Life in Russia, 1845–1902 was published posthumously.
Personal life On 1 September 1908 (O.S.), Polunin married the artist and scenic designer Elizabeth Polunin () in St. Petersburg. The couple had four children, the botanists Nicholas Vladimir Polunin and Oleg Polunin, the piano teacher Tanya Polunin and the physician Ivan Polunin.
Polunin died on 11 March 1957 in Godalming, Surrey.
Publication The Continental Method of Scene Painting: Seven Years With the Diaghileff Company.The Continental Method of Scene Painting: Seven Years With the Diaghileff Company on WorldCat
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References
External links Vladimir Polunin on “Art UK” Vladimir Polunin on "Invaluable" Portrait of Vladimir Polunin, 1919 by Pablo Picasso, Sotheby's 2019 Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale Lot 365 Posters by Vladimir Polunin, 1930-1934. Commissioned by Underground Group later to become London Transport, now in the London Transport Museum Russian-language biography