Moscow Art Theatre, Part 1: 1899-1908

Moscow Art Theatre was the outstanding Russian theatre company that hugely influenced the acting world and the development of modern American theatre and drama. MAT was founded in 1898 by two teachers of dramatic art, Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. Its purpose was to establish a theatre of naturalism, in contrast to the melodramas that were Russia's dominant form of theatre at the time, with a fresh approach to its function.

Uncle Vanya (1899)

Russian postcard. Vasili Luzhski as Serebryakov in 'Uncle Vanya (Russian: Дядя Ваня – Dyadya Vanya, 1899) by Anton Chekhov, and first performed in 1899 at the Moscow Art Theatre (MAT).

The 1899 Moscow Art Theatre production of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s play, 'Uncle Vanya', was directed by Konstantin Stanislavski, who also played the doctor. To Stanislavski’s consternation, Chekhov declined to explain or expand upon the text of the play, a study of aimlessness and hopelessness. However, as Stanislavski was later to relate, Chekhov’s refusal forced Stanislavski to dig beneath the surface of the text to find psychological truth. The exercise changed Stanislavski’s life and work.

Vasily Luzhski was born in 1869 in Shuya, Vladimir Governorate, Russian Empire (now Ivanovo oblast, Russia). In 1898, he joined Konstantin Stanislavski's original troupe and played Shuisky in the Moscow Art Theatre's very first production, that of 'Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich' by Alexey K. Tolstoy. The same year, he played Sorin in what came to be recognised later as the groundbreaking production of Anton Chekhov's 'The Seagull' and soon became the first Russian performer of the part of Prozorov in 'The Three Sisters'. He was also the first performer of the parts of Serebryakov ('Uncle Vanya' by Anton Chekhov, 1899), Andrey ('The Three Sisters', 1901), Bessemenov ('The Philistines' by Maxim Gorky, 1902), Bubnov ('The Lower Depths' by Gorky, 1902), and Lebedev ('Ivanov', 1904). In all, he had 64 parts in the Moscow Art Theatre and was a co-director of its 23 productions. He died in 1931 in Moscow.


Russian postcard, no. 1000. Collection: Didier Hanson. Photo: Anton Chekhov reading a play to actors; next to him, Konstantin Stanislavski and his wife.

Three Sisters (1901)


Russian postcard. Photo: K. Fisher / Moscow Art Theatre. Vasily Kachalov as Baron Nikolaj Lvovich Tuzenbach and Vera Vsevolodovna Baranovskaya as Irina, the youngest sister in 'Tri sestry' (Three Sisters) by Anton Chekhov. 'Tri sestry' was written in 1900 and first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard. Photo: K.A. Fisher, Moscow / Moscow Art Theatre. Vasily Kachalov as Baron Nikolaj Lvovich Tuzenbach in 'Tri sestry' (Three Sisters) by Anton Chekhov, first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre.


Russian postcard. Photo: K. Fisher / Moscow Art Theatre. Vasily Kachalov as Baron Nikolaj Lvovich Tuzenbach in 'Tri sestry' (Three Sisters) by Anton Chekhov, first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard. Photo: Moscow Art Theatre. Konstantin Stanislavski as Lieutenant-colonel Aleksandr Ignatyevich Vershinin in 'Tri sestry' (Three Sisters) by Anton Chekhov, first performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hansonn.

High-quality art that was available to the general public

Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko wanted to reform Russian theatre to high-quality art that was available to the general public. Sharing similar theatrical experience and interests, the cofounders met, and it was agreed that Stanislavsky was to have absolute control over stage direction while Nemirovich-Danchenko was assigned the literary and administrative duties. Nemirovich was in charge of the literary decisions, and Stanislavski was in charge of all production decisions.

After some 70 rehearsals, the Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; Russian: Московский Художественный академический театр (МХАТ), Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr (МHАТ)) opened with Aleksey Tolstoy’s 'Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich' in October 1898. The Theatre's first season also included 'The Sunken Bell' by Gerhart Hauptmann and 'The Merchant of Venice' by William Shakespeare, but it wasn't until MAT staged Anton Chekhov's 'The Seagull', with Stanislavski in the role of Trigorin, that the theatre achieved fame.

In its first production, Anton Chekhov’s 'The Seagull' had failed. With its revival of 'The Seagull', the Moscow Art Theatre not only achieved its first major success but also began a long artistic association with one of Russia’s most celebrated playwrights. The MAT productions of his four major plays were among the company's greatest triumphs.

In Chekhov’s artistic realism, the Moscow Art Theatre discovered a writer suited to its aesthetic sensibilities. In 'The Seagull', as in their productions of 'Uncle Vanya' (1899), 'Three Sisters' (1901) and 'The Cherry Orchard' (1904), the MAT emphasised the subtext, the underlying meaning of the playwright’s thought. Chekhov was a literary artist of laconic precision who probed below the surface of life, laying bare the secret motives of his characters.

Artistically, the Moscow Art Theatre tried all that was new. Its repertoire included works of Henrik Ibsen, Maxim Gorky, L.N. Andreyev, Leo Tolstoy, Maurice Maeterlinck, and Gerhart Hauptmann, among others, and it staged works of political and social significance as well as satires, fantasies, and comedies.


Russian postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938) was a wealthy Russian businessman turned stage director. He founded the Moscow Art Theatre and originated the Stanislavski System of acting.|This acting system was spread over the world by his students, including Michael Chekhov, Aleksei Dikij, Stella Adler, Viktor Tourjansky, and Richard Boleslawski.


Russian postcard. Sent by mail in 1904. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Russian film and stage actor Vasily Kachalov (1875-1948) was one of Konstantin Stanislavsky's best-known performers. He led the so-called Kachalov Group within the Moscow Art Theatre. He also appeared in four films.

The Lower Depths (1902)

Russian postcard, no. 8572. Ivan Moskvin as Luka and Vasily Kachalov as the Baron in 'The Lower Depths' (Russian: На дне) by Maxim Gorky, first performed on 18 December 1902, under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko at the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian pre-revolutionary postcard, no. 2568. Ivan Moskvin as Luka in 'The Lower Depths' by Maxim Gorky, first performed in 1902 at the Moscow Art Theatre.


Russian postcard. Alexander Zagarov as Kleshtch in 'The Lower Depths' by Maxim Gorky, first performed in 1902 at the Moscow Art Theatre.


Russian postcard. Policeman Medvedev (actor unknown) in 'The Lower Depths' (Russian: На дне) by Maxim Gorky. Vladimir Gribunin originally played Medvedev in the 1902 version of The Lower Depths by the Moscow Art Theatre. It is not clear whether this card refers to that version.

Fostering community and trust

The original ensemble of the Moscow Art Theatre was made up of amateur actors from the Society of Art and Literature and from the dramatic classes of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, where Konstantin Stanislavski and Nemirovich-Danchenko had taught. Influenced by the German Meiningen Company, Stanislavsky began to develop a system of training for actors that would enable them to perform realistically in any sort of role and situation.

Konstantin Stanislavski interviewed all his actors, making sure they were working hard and devoted as well as talented. He made them live together in common housing for months at a time to foster community and trust, which he believed would raise the quality of their performances. Stanislavski's system, in which he trained actors via the acting studios he founded as part of the theatre, became central to every production the theatre put on. The system had a huge influence on the development of method acting.

Stanislavski and Danchenko's initial goal was an 'open theatre', one that anyone could afford to attend. This goal was quickly destroyed when they could neither obtain adequate funding from private investors nor from the Moscow City Council.

After Anton Chekhov died in 1904, the theatre experienced a huge changeover. Chekhov had envisioned fellow playwright and friend Maxim Gorki as his successor as the Theatre's leading dramatist, but Nemirovich and Stanislavski's reaction to his play 'Summerfolk' was unenthusiastic, causing Gorki to leave. He took with him Savva Morozov, one of the theatre's main investors at the time.

Now in dire straits, the Moscow Art Theatre decided to accept invitations to go on an international tour in 1906. The tour started in Berlin and included Dresden, Frankfurt, Prague, and Vienna. It was a huge success, gaining the theatre international acclaim.

Julius Caesar (1903)

Russian postcard. Vasily Kachalov as Julius Caesar and Alexander Vishnevsky as Mark Antony in William Shakespeare's play 'Julius Caesar', directed by Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko in 1903 at the Moscow Art Theatre.

Aleksandr Vishnevsky (1861-1943) was a Russian actor and one of the founding members of the Moscow Art Theatre.


Russian postcard. Leonid Leonidov as Cassius in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare, performed at the Moscow Art Theatre (1903).

Leonid Mironovich Leonidov (1873-1941) was a Russian and Soviet actor and stage director.


Russian postcard. An unknown as a vestal virgin in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare, performed at the Moscow Art Theatre (1903).


Russian postcard. Unknowns as Romans in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare, performed at the Moscow Art Theatre (1903).


Russian postcard. 'On the Streets of Rome' in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare, performed at the Moscow Art Theatre (1903).


Russian postcard. Chadrin or Shadrin as the tavern owner in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare, performed at the Moscow Art Theatre (1903).


. Russian postcard by Phototypie Scherer, Nabholz & Co., Moscow 1903. 'Roman nobility' in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare, performed at the Moscow Art Theatre (1903). The flower seller seems to refer to literature like 'The Last Days of Pompeii' and paintings like those by Lawrence Alma-Tadema.


Russian postcard by Phototypie Scherer, Nabholz & Co., Moscow 1903. Leonid Leonidov as Cassius and A.L. Zagarov as Pindarus in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare, performed at the Moscow Art Theatre (1903).


Russian postcard by Phototypie Scherer, Nabholz & Co., Moscow 1903. Vasily Kachalov as Julius Caesar in 'Julius Caesar' by William Shakespeare, performed at the Moscow Art Theatre (1903).

The Inspector General (1908)

Russian postcard, no. 47. A.F. (Apollon) Gorev as Kleshtakhov, the presumed General Inspector in 'The Inspector General' (Revizor) by Nikolai Gogol, performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1908. From the Art Magazine by I.I. Kornilova & Co., Moscow.

Apollon Gorev (1887-1912) was a Russian stage actor who worked at the Moscow Art Theatre, but he died at a young age. He was the son of the actors F.P. Gorev (1850-1910) and Elizaveta Goreva (1859-1917). As a regular of MAT, he acted in 'The Seagull' (1898), 'Uncle Vanya' (1899), etc., lastly in 1909.

To be continued next week.

Sources: Britannica and Wikipedia (English).

Moscow Art Theatre, Part 2: 1909-1912

EFSP continues the series on the Moscow Art Theatre, the stage company that hugely influenced the acting world and the development of modern American drama, theatre and cinema. MAT was founded in 1898 by two Russian theatre legends, Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. The early 20th century marked MAT’s 'Golden Age.' Its productions gained international acclaim, and the company's first tour through Europe set a new standard for theatrical excellence.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1909. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Vasili Kachalov as Anathema in the prologue of the stage play 'Anathema' by Leonid Andreev, performed in 1909 by the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 10682, 1909. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Vasili Kachalov and Alexander Vishnevsky in the stage play 'Anathema' by Leonid Andreev, performed in 1909 by the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1909. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Vasili Kachalov as Anathema in the prologue of the stage play 'Anathema' by Leonid Andreev, performed in 1909 by the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1909. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Vasili Kachalov as Anathema in the prologue of the stage play 'Anathema' by Leonid Andreev, performed in 1909 by the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1909. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Vasili Kachalov as Anathema in the prologue of the stage play 'Anathema' by Leonid Andreev, performed in 1909 by the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Stanislavski's favourite actress

Playwright Anton Chekhov's legendary collaboration with the Moscow Art Theatre was fruitful for both sides. It resulted in the creation of classic productions of 'The Seagull', 'Uncle Vanya', 'The Three Sisters', and 'The Cherry Orchard'. These four big plays remained in the repertoire of the M.A.T. and countless stage companies ever since. Chekhov was married to the favourite actress of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova (1868-1959) was one of the original 39 founding members of the Moscow Art Theatre in 1898. Nemirovich-Danchenko had been her teacher and lover and had introduced her to Stanislavski. Told in strict confidence, Nemirovich confessed to Knipper that he and Stanislavski were planning the creation of a new theatre company. Nemirovich assured her that she would be invited to join this company. After many weeks, enough capital was finally secured to found the new company. The company gathered in Pushkino, where Stanislavski addressed Knipper and the other members, telling them that he hoped they had all come to dedicate their lives to creating the "first rational, moral, and universally accessible theatre in Russia."

Olga Leonardovna met Anton Chekhov in 1898, when she was given the leading role of Arkadina in his play 'Chaika' (The Seagull) at the MAT. While rehearsing for the play on 9 September, Olga's 30th birthday, she met Russia's most eligible literary bachelor and playwright of 'The Seagull', Anton Chekhov, then 38. Knipper and Chekhov exchanged telegrams and letters for the next few years, while Olga became more familiar with Chekhov's younger sister, Masha. Random letters of teasing and playfulness became letters of love and deep remorse that they lived so far apart from each other. Olga's true colours shone throughout her letters of correspondence. Her ill-moods, volatile tempers, combined with her sporadic high spirits, kept Chekhov on his toes.

Olga brilliantly played Arkadina in 'The Seagull' and also played Elena in the Moscow premiere of 'Uncle Vanya' (1899). In the winter of 1900, Anton Chekhov returned from Yalta and headed to Moscow with a new play that he had written with a 'dear actress' in mind. "What a part I’ve got for you in 'Three Sisters'. Give me ten rubles, and you can have it; otherwise, I’ll give it to another actress," Chekhov wrote to Olga. Many similarities existed between Olga Knipper and the character Chekhov wrote for her in 'Tri sestry' (The Three Sisters), Masha. Knipper was to play the middle of three sisters and one brother. The only married sibling of the foursome and "the most original and talented of the three sisters." To portray a young woman of culture and refinement, who speaks French, German and English, and is a first-class pianist, was no problem for Knipper. She received much praise for her portrayal as Masha in 'The Three Sisters' in 1901.

On 25 May 1901, Anton Chekhov and Olga Knipper eventually married at the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross in Moscow. It was a small wedding about which hardly anyone knew, including Chekhov's mother and sister, and Olga's mother. Many close friends and family were hurt by the secrecy. At the time of the wedding, Anton was already suffering from tuberculosis. In January 1904, Olga starred as Madame Ranevskaya in the premiere of 'Vishnevy sad' (The Cherry Orchard) at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904, with singer Feodor Chaliapine Sr., writer Maxim Gorky, and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff in attendance. Her marriage ended when Chekhov died of tuberculosis. After Chekhov died in 1904, the MAT experienced a huge changeover. Chekhov had envisioned fellow playwright and friend Maxim Gorki as his successor as the Theatre's leading dramatist, but Nemirovich and Stanislavski's reaction to his play 'Summerfolk' was unenthusiastic, causing Gorki to leave. He took with him Savva Morozov, one of the theatre's main investors at the time.

Now in dire straits, the Moscow Art Theatre decided to accept invitations to go on an international tour in 1906, which started in Berlin and included Dresden, Frankfurt, Prague, and Vienna. The tour was a huge success, gaining the theatre international acclaim. Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova continued successful work on stage with the Moscow Art Theatre Company for the rest of her life. She did not play many film roles, mostly due to the influence of her teachers, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. They strongly believed that live stage acting was a superior form of art. For that reason, they discouraged their stage actors of the MAT from working in films.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Konstantin Stanislavski as Rakitin in 'A Month in the Country' (Месяц в деревне, romanised: Mesiats v derevne, 1909) by Ivan Turgenev, at the Moscow Art Theatre (M.A.T.). The Moscow Art Theatre (MAT) production opened on 22 December 1909. It was directed by Konstantin Stanislavski (who alternated the role of Rakitin with Vasili Kachalov) and Ivan Moskvin. Olga Knipper played Natalya, Nikolai Massalitinov was her husband, Islayev, and Maria Samarova was his mother, Anna. Richard Boleslavsky played Belyaev, with Lydia Koreneva as Verochka. The rest of the cast included Elena Muratova as Lizaveta, Nikolai Zvantsev as Schaaf, Ilya Uralov as Bolshintsov, Vladimir Gribunin as Shpigelsky, I. V. Lazarev as Matvei, and Lyubov Dmitrevskaya as Katya. Scenic design was by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. This was the first production in which Stanislavski made use of his emerging 'system' of acting, much to the general distress of the actors, and Knipper in particular.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Lydia Koreneva as Veroschka and Richard Boleslavsky as Belyaev in 'A Month in the Country' by Ivan Turgenev, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1909.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Olga Knipper as Natalya and Konstantin Stanislavski as Rakitin in 'A Month in the Country' by Ivan Turgenev, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1909.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Olga Knipper as Natalya and Konstantin Stanislavski as Rakitin in 'A Month in the Country' by Ivan Turgenev, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1909.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Olga Knipper as Natalya in 'A Month in the Country' by Ivan Turgenev, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1909.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Lydia Koreneva as Veroschka in 'A Month in the Country' by Ivan Turgenev, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1909.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Lyubov Dmitrevskaya as Katya and Nikolai Zvantsev as Schaaf in 'A Month in the Country' by Ivan Turgenev, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1909.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Vladimir Gribunin as Shpigelsky and Elena Muratova as Lizaveta in 'A Month in the Country' by Ivan Turgenev, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1909.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Maria Samarova as Anna in 'A Month in the Country' by Ivan Turgenev, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1909.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 831, 1909. Maria Samarova as Anna in 'A Month in the Country' by Ivan Turgenev, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1909.

A new acting methodology

The first European tour of the Moscow Art Theatre began in February 1906 in Berlin. The MAT played to an audience that included Max Reinhardt, Gerhart Hauptmann, Arthur Schnitzler, and Eleonora Duse. "It's as though we were the revelation," Konstantin Stanislavski wrote of the rapturous acclaim they received. The success of the tour provided financial security for the company, garnered an international reputation for their work, and made a significant impact on European theatre. The tour also provoked a major artistic crisis for Stanislavski that had a significant impact on his future direction. From his attempts to resolve this crisis, his acting system would eventually emerge.

Stanislavski developed his system of acting out of his persistent efforts to remove the blocks that he encountered in his performances, beginning with his crisis in 1906. He produced his early work using an external, director-centred technique that strove for an organic unity of all its elements. In each production, he planned the interpretation of every role, blocking, and the mise en scène in detail in advance. He also introduced into the production process a period of discussion and detailed analysis of the play by the cast. Despite the success that this approach brought, particularly with his Naturalistic stagings of the plays of Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky, Stanislavski remained dissatisfied. His struggles with Chekhov's drama, out of which his notion of subtext emerged, and his experiments with Symbolism encouraged a greater attention to 'inner action' and a more intensive investigation of the actor's process. He began to develop the more actor-centred techniques of 'psychological realism', and his focus shifted from his productions to the rehearsal process and pedagogy. He pioneered the use of theatre studios as a laboratory in which to innovate actor training and to experiment with new forms of theatre. Stanislavski organised his techniques into a coherent, systematic methodology, which built on three major strands of influence: (1) the director-centred, unified aesthetic and disciplined, ensemble approach of the Meiningen company; (2) the actor-centred realism of the Maly; and (3) the Naturalistic staging of Antoine and the independent theatre movement.

Stanislavski's production of 'A Month in the Country' (1909) was a watershed in his artistic development. Breaking the MAT's tradition of open rehearsals, he prepared Turgenev's play in private. They began with a discussion of what he would come to call the 'through-line' for the characters: their emotional development and the way they change over the course of the play. This production is the earliest recorded instance of Stanislavski's practice of analysing the action of the script into discrete 'bits'. At this stage in the development of his approach, Stanislavski's technique was to identify the emotional state contained in the psychological experience of the character during each bit and, through the use of the actor's emotional memory, to forge a subjective connection to it. Only after two months of rehearsals were the actors permitted to physicalise the text. Stanislavski insisted that they should play the actions that their discussions around the table had identified. Having realised a particular emotional state in a physical action, he assumed at this point in his experiments that the actor's repetition of that action would evoke the desired emotion. They also explored non-verbal communication, whereby scenes were rehearsed silently with actors interacting 'only with their eyes'. The production's success when it opened in December 1909 seemed to prove the validity of his new methodology.

Another important production was 'Hamlet' (1911–1912). In his treatment of the classics, Stanislavski believed that it was legitimate for actors and directors to ignore the playwright's intentions for a play's staging. He collaborated on 'Hamlet' with the director and designer Edward Gordon Craig, and their production became a landmark of 20th-century theatrical modernism. Stanislavski hoped to prove that his recently developed system for creating internally justified, realistic acting could meet the formal demands of a classic play. Craig envisioned a Symbolist monodrama in which every aspect of production would be subjugated to the protagonist: it would present a dream-like vision as seen through Hamlet's eyes. The production established MAT's reputation and opened new possibilities for the art of the theatre. Late in 1910, Gorky invited Stanislavski to join him in Capri, where they discussed actor training and Stanislavski's emerging 'grammar'. Inspired by a popular theatre performance in Naples that employed the techniques of the commedia dell'arte, Gorky suggested that they form a company, modelled on the medieval strolling players, in which a playwright and a group of young actors would devise new plays together using improvisation. Stanislavski would develop this use of improvisation in his work with his First Studio which he created in September 1912. Its founding members included Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Michael Chekhov, Richard Boleslawski, and Maria Ouspenskaya, all of whom would exert a considerable influence on the subsequent history of theatre.

In 1928, at the MAT's 30th anniversary celebrations, a massive heart attack on-stage put an end to Konstantin Stanislavski's acting career, though he waited until the curtain fell before seeking medical assistance. He continued to direct, teach, and write about acting until his death a few weeks before the publication of the first volume of his life's great work, the acting manual 'An Actor's Work' (1938). He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Order of Lenin and was the first to be granted the title of People's Artist of the USSR.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 11120, 1910. Olga Gzovskaya as Katerina Ivanovna in 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1910.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 11120, 1910. Olga Gzovskaya as Katerina Ivanovna in 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Fyodor Dostoevsky, first performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1910.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, no. 11120, 1910. Leonid Leonidov as Mitya in 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Fyodor Dostoevsky, performed in 1910 by the Moscow Art Theatre.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1910. Vasili Kachalov as Ivan in 'The Brothers Karamazov' by Fyodor Dostoevsky, performed in 1910 by the Moscow Art Theatre. Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1910. Vasili Kachalov as Glumov in 'Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man' by Alexander Ostrovski, performed in 1910 by the Moscow Art Theatre.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin. Vasili Kachalov in the play 'In Life's Clutches' by Knut Hamsun Collection: Didier Hanson.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1912. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Vasili Kachalov as Hamlet in Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet', performed in 1911-1912 by the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Edward Gordon Craig and Konstantin Stanislavsky.



Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1912. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Alexander Vishnevsky as the First Actor (The King) in Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet', performed in 1911-1912 by the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Edward Gordon Craig and Konstantin Stanislavsky.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1912. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Nikolai Massalitinov as Claudius and Olga Knipper as Gertrude in Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet', performed in 1911-1912 by the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Edward Gordon Craig and Konstantin Stanislavsky.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1912. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Konstantin Khokhlov as Horatio in Shakespeare's play 'Hamlet', performed in 1911-1912 by the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Edward Gordon Craig and Konstantin Stanislavsky.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1912. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Maria Efremova, Nadezhda Bromley and E.B. Mark, playing three herd girls in 'Peer Gynt', performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1912.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1912. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Nikolai Podgorny as Trofimov in 'The Cherry Orchard' by Anton Chekhov, performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1912.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1912. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Vasili Kachalov in 'It Tears Where It is Thin' by Ivan Turgenev, performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1912.


Russian postcard by Ed. Goroyankin, 1912. Photo: K.A. Fischer, Moscow. Vasili Kachalov in 'The Woes of Wit' or 'Woe from Wit' (Го́ре от ума́, Gore ot uma, 1912) by Alexander Griboyedov, performed by the Moscow Art Theatre in 1912.

Sources: Steve Shelokhonov (IMDb), Wikipedia (English), and Britannica.