Nizhny Novgorod exhibition marks Yevgeny Yevstigneyev’s centenary

An exhibition marking actor Yevgeny Yevstigneyev’s centenary has opened at the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum. It brings together material from more than ten Russian collections.

The project, entitled “Yevgeny Yevstigneyev. The Art of Being Genuine”, was organised with the Bakhrushin Theatre Museum in the museum’s Art of the XX Century space. Photographs, documents, posters, designs and personal possessions trace the Nizhny Novgorod native’s life from his youth in Gorky to his final roles. A separate section explores his film work.

The exhibition covers his studies at the Gorky Theatre School and Moscow Art Theatre School, his work at Sovremennik and two decades at the Moscow Art Theatre. Vladimir Mashkov recalled that Yevstigneyev was admitted directly to the third year of Pavel Massalsky’s course at the theatre school.

The Bakhrushin Museum contributed 20 objects and more than 100 digital copies. These include Viktor Volsky’s portrait of the actor, painted from life in 1977.

The theatre section includes designs for Yevgeny Schwartz’s “The Naked King” and Valery Levental’s set design for the Moscow Art Theatre’s 1985 production of “Uncle Vanya”, in which Yevstigneyev played Professor Serebryakov. David Borovsky’s costume design for Glov relates to Sergei Yursky’s production of “The Gamblers–XXI”. That role in the 1992 production was the actor’s final stage performance.

Also displayed is Yevstigneyev’s concert outfit, a black tuxedo with a turquoise waistcoat. His widow, Irina Tsyvina, donated it in 2015. Before his theatre career, he taught himself to play drums and performed as a jazz drummer.

Other contributors include the Moscow Art Theatre Museum, the Nizhny Novgorod and Vladimir-Suzdal museum reserves, Moscow’s Multimedia Art Museum, the Russian Museum of Photography, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod archives, Mosfilm, Lenfilm and Russia’s State Film Archive. The exhibition runs until January 10.