Alexander Tyshler was a fantactic set designer who crafted the visual language for approximately 80 performances, collaborating with some of the most famous directors of his time. His journey into the world of theater began in 1927 at the Belarusian Jewish Theater in Minsk and continued through the 1930s in Moscow and Leningrad. From 1931 to 1934, Tyshler served as a set designer at the Romen Gypsy Theater, before moving on to design performances at the Moscow Jewish Theater from 1935 onwards. The peak of his theatrical career came in 1961, when he designed the set for Rodion Shchedrin’s opera Not Only Love at the Bolshoi Theater, marking the culmination of his illustrious career in stage design.
Tyshler’s life, spanning nearly 83 years, was marked by both recognition and hardship. In the late 1920s, his works were celebrated internationally, with exhibitions in Dresden, Harbin, Leipzig, and even at the Venice Biennale in 1928. However, his career took a hit in 1933 when he faced severe criticism and accusations of “formalism,” leading to a decades-long absence from public exhibitions. Despite numerous invitations to showcase his work abroad, Tyshler was repeatedly denied permission to leave the Soviet Union—likely due to a combination of his invaluable contributions to Soviet culture and the regime’s suspicion rooted in his Jewish heritage.
Although Tyshler’s work was officially out of favor during certain periods, his artistic legacy was far from forgotten. His pieces were featured in nearly 50 exhibitions within the Soviet Union and approximately 30 abroad. With the Khrushchev Thaw, Tyshler’s work began to resurface in the public eye, and while he was awarded numerous titles and honors throughout his career, the media often neglected to cover his major exhibitions, and his performances faced sporadic bans—sometimes for displeasing powerful figures like Kaganovich, and even Stalin himself. Despite these challenges, Tyshler’s influence on Russian avant-garde and theatrical design remains indelible.
