The Russian Academy Of Arts

On January 24, 2012 in the New Manezh Exhibition Hall (3 Georgievsky Lane, Moscow) there was an opening of a solo exhibition of the eminent theater designer, People’s Artist of Russia, Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Arts Mikhail Kurilko-Ryumin devoted to the 50th anniversary of his teaching activity at V. Surikov Moscow State Academy Art Institute. The opening ceremony was attended by the President of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli who presented the artist with the Academy’s high award – the Order of Peter the Great.

A talented teacher, a man of great erudition and encyclopedic knowledge caring for the fates of Russian art, Mikhail Kurilko-Ryumin has been heading the workshop of theater design and decorative art of V. Surikov Moscow State Academy Art Institute since 1962. He trains his students to be both professional artists and people of perfect art taste helping them to understand the beauty and richness of the surrounding world.

Mikhail Kurilko-Ryumin belongs to the well-known dynasty of theater designers. He was born in St. Petersburg in 1923. His father M.I. Kurilko, a big connoisseur of art history, is a personification of the whole epoch. He was a friend of A. Nezhdanova, I. Golovanov, I. Kozlovsky, E. Geltser, I. Zholtovsky, A. Messerer, R. Glier and other distinguished figures of art. A talented teacher, brilliant graphic artist and etcher, for many years he was a chief artist of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

Mikhail M. Kurilko-Ryumin has followed in his father’s footsteps. After his return from the front in 1942 (he fought in the Infantry Division of the Guards and was wounded near Kursk) for several years he worked as an artist in the Kyrgyz Opera and Ballet Theater. In 1945-1951 he studied at the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography under such noted artists as F. Bogorodsky, Y. Pimenov, G. Shegal, B. Dubrovske-Eshke. After the graduation Mickhail Kurilko-Ryumin devoted his life to the theater.

For his long life Mikhail Kurilko-Ryumin has made set designs for over 200 drama and musical performances in many cities of Russia and other countries: in Minsk and Dnepropetrovsk, Ufa and Krasnoyarsk, Ekaterinburg and Kazan, Vladikavkaz, Prague, Budapest and others. He has worked for major Moscow theaters including the Maly Theater, Moscow Art Theater, Ermolova Drama Theater, Theater of Satire, Theater of the Russian Army and others in collaboration with celebrated stage directors – M. Knebel, A. Popov, B. Ravenskikh, A. Efros, A. Shatrin, A. Mambetov.

During his creative work the artist has been true to rich traditions of the Russian theater and decorative art, in particular – the tradition of pictorial set designs. “All his works are distinguished by the refinement of his taste” – said the noted painter N. Andronov about Mikhail Kurilko-Ryumin.

On display in the exhibition halls of the New Manezh turned into a stage space full of theatrical atmosphere are works by over 150 authors – Mikhail Kurilko-Ryumin’s former students.

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