AIZENBERG, NINA

AIZENBERG, NINA (1902–1974), Russian painter, graphic artist, and stage designer. Aizenberg was born in Moscow. In 1918–24, she studied in Moscow at the High Arts and Technical Workshops (vhutemas). From 1924, she worked as a stage designer for several Moscow theaters. In 1926, Aizenberg became the principal stage-designer for the Blue Robe (Sinyaa Bluza), a propaganda-variety theater, where she developed a novel approach to designing sets and costumes. This approach, based on constructivist theater techniques, made possible quick in set and costume changes through the artful use of basic components in various combinations. In 1928–30, Aizenberg was a member of the Association of Decorative Artists, in 1930–32 she joined October group, which united artists working in the constructivist manner and adherents of "industrial art." In the early 1930s, she was active in the festive design of Moscow's streets on holidays marking the events of the Revolution. From the mid-1920s through the 1930s, she regularly showed her work at set design and decorative art exhibits in Moscow and Leningrad. In 1938–41, she executed designs for sports parades and rallies. In 1940–50, Aizenberg worked as a set designer for various theaters in Russia and other Soviet republics. She executed a series of landscape paintings in the 1950s. The first and only solo exhibition in her lifetime took place in 1964 in Moscow.

bibliography:

Nina Aizenberg: 40 Years in Theatre. Exh. Cat. Moscow (1964) (Rus.); Nina Aizenberg: Transformations. Russian Avant-Garde Costume and Stage Design (Jerusalem, 1991); N. Van Norman Baer (ed.), Theatre in Revolution. Russian Avant-Garde Stage Design 1913–193, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (1992), 74, 191; J.E. Bowlt, The Artists of Russian Theatre: 1880–1930 (Moscow, 1994), 13–16 (Rus.).

[Hillel Kazovsky (2^nd ed.)]