Elizabeth Polunin
| Elizabeth Polunin | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Elizabeth Hart 21 May 1887 Ashford, Kent |
| Died | 1950 London |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | |
| Known for | Theatre design & portrait painting |
Elizabeth Violet Polunin, (née Hart), (21 May 1887- 1950) was a British artist and theatre designer, most notably for her work with Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.
Polunin was born in Ashford, Kent and when she was aged 17 she went to Paris to study art at the Académie Colarossi under Lucien Simon and at the École des Beaux-Arts. Polunin continued her education at a private art school in Saint Petersburg where she was taught by Léon Bakst before she returned to England where she studied under Walter Sickert at the Westminster School of Art.
In 1907 Elizabeth Hart married Vladimir Polunin in St. Petersburg. The Polunins moved to London and both worked as scene-painters in several theatres. Most notably they designed and painted sets for Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes during their regular London seasons and the couple soon became the principal set designers for the company, working with Léon Bakst. Diaghilev commissioned set designs and costumes from artists such as Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, and they were to have a huge influence on Polunin. She produced portraits of both Diaghilev and the opera singer Feodor Chaliapin. When Picasso spent ten weeks in London during the summer of 1919 to produce designs for the company's production of The Three-Cornered Hat he worked in the Polunin's Floral Street studio in Covent Garden. Polunin also produced designs for Sir Thomas Beecham's Opera Company.
From 1924 onwards Elizabeth Polunin concentrated on portrait and landscape painting and exhibited at a series of solo shows in London, beginning in 1925. In 1933 Polunin returned to the theatre to design scenery and costumes for The Snow Maiden at Sadler's Wells. The Victoria and Albert Museum would later acquire some of her costume designs for its collection.
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