Nikolai Sapunov

Painter, graphic artist, theatrical designer. Studied under Abram Arkhipov, Nikolai Kasatkin, Leonid Pasternak and Isaac Levitan at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1893–1904), in the studios of Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin and under Alexander Kiselyov at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1904–11). Visited Italy (1902). Made the acquaintance of Savva Mamontov (1900–01) and designed sets for his opera company at the Hermitage Theatre in Moscow (1902–03). Collaborated with Pavel Kuznetsov on the sets for Richard Wagner’s opera Die Walküre at the Bolshoi Theatre (1902) and with Vsyevolod Meyerhold on productions at the Theatre Studio on Povarskaya and the House of Interludes in Moscow and the Vera Komissarzhevskaya Theatre in St Petersburg. Worked for the Konstantin Nezlobin Theatre in Moscow and the Alexandrinsky Theatre and the New Theatre of Drama in St Petersburg. Collaborated with the Libra (from 1904) and Golden Fleece (1906) magazines. Founding member of the Society of Free Aesthetics (1907), member of the Union of Russian Artists (1908–10) and the World of Art (from 1910). Lived in St Petersburg (from 1908). Drowned while swimming in the Gulf of Finland at Terioki (now Zelenogorsk). Contributed to the exhibitions of the World of Art (1902, 1906, 1911–13), Crimson Rose in Saratov (1904), Union of Russian Artists (1905, 1908–10), Blue Rose (1907), Wreath-Stephanos (1907–08) and the Golden Fleece Salon (1909). One-man shows in Moscow (1912, 1914, 1963, 2003–04) and St Petersburg (1913).