MOSCOW ACADEMIC ART THEATRE

also called (until 1939) Moscow Art Theatre, Russian Moscovsky Akademichesky Khudozhestvenny Teatr, or Moscovsky Khudozhestvenny Teatr, abbreviation Mkhat, outstanding Russian theatre of theatrical naturalism founded in 1898 by two teachers of dramatic art, Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko (qq.v.). Its purpose was to establish a theatre of new art forms, with a fresh approach to its function. 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. The original ensemble was made up of amateur actors from the Society of Art and Literature and from the dramatic classes of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, where Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko had taught. Influenced by the German Meiningen Company (q.v.), Stanislavsky began to develop a system of training for actors that would enable them to perform realistically in any sort of role and situation. After some 70 rehearsals, the Moscow Art Theatre opened with Aleksey Tolstoy's Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich in October 1898. For its fifth production it staged Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, a play that had failed in its first production. With its revival of The Seagull, the Art Theatre not only achieved its first major success but also began a long artistic association with one of Russia's most celebrated playwrights: in Chekhov's artistic realism, the Art Theatre discovered a writer suited to its aesthetic sensibilities. In The Seagull, as in all of Chekhov's plays, the Art Theatre emphasized the subtext, the underlying meaning of the playwright's thought. Artistically, the Art Theatre tried all that was new. Its repertoire included works of Maksim 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. After the Russian Revolution it received crucial support from V.I. Lenin and A.V. Lunacharsky, first commissar of education in the Soviet Union, and in 1922 the Art Theatre toured Europe and the United States, garnering critical acclaim wherever it performed. Returning to Moscow in 1924, the theatre continued to produce new Soviet plays and Russian classics until its evacuation in 1941. Two successful tours of London in the late 1950s and early '60s reestablished its preeminence in world theatre. The Art Theatre has exercised a tremendous influence on theatres all over the world: it fostered a number of experimental studios (e.g., Vakhtangov Theatre, Realistic Theatre, Habima Theatre, Musical Studio of Nemirovich-Danchenko), and, today, virtually all professional training in acting uses some aspects of Konstantin Stanislavsky's method. Additional reading A comprehensive single-volume reference source is Aleksei L. Narochnitskii (ed.), Moskvaentsiklopediia (1980), an encyclopaedia containing several topical articles with bibliographies and approximately 5,000 shorter entries, of which more than 1,000 are biographical. P.V. Sytin, Iz istorii moskovskikh ulits, 3rd ed. (1958), is a historical account of the topography of Moscow streets and squares. Leo Gruliow, Moscow (1977); Henri Cartier-Bresson, The People of Moscow (1955); Jan Lucas, Moscow: A Book of Photographs (1964); and Karel Neubert, Portrait of Moscow (1964), are interesting pictorial works. The following differ in the depth of coverage, but most include at least one informative map: Evan Mawdsley and Margaret Mawdsley (eds.), Moscow and Leningrad (1980), with a street atlas; Moscow and Leningrad (1985), from the Berlitz series; Iurii Fedosiuk, Moskva v kol'tse Sadovykh (1983); and Baedeker's Moscow, text by Bernhard Pollman, trans. from German (1987), the last two providing detailed descriptions of the central parts of the city.Studies of the city's geography and economy include Leslie Symons et al., The Soviet Union: A Systematic Geography (1983), a work with useful bibliographies; Iulian G. Saushkin and V.G. Glushkova, Moskva sredi gorodov mira (1983), an analysis of economic geography, comparing Moscow to other major cities of the socialist world; Yuri Saushkin, Moscow (1966; originally published in Russian, 1964), a geographical-historical survey of the city; Vladimir Promyslov, Moscow in Construction: Industrialized Methods of Building (1967; originally published in Russian, 1967); and Anatolii P. Tsarenko and Evgenii A. Fedorov, Moskovskii metropoliten imeni V.I. Lenina (1984), a reference work devoted entirely to the Moscow subway.Moscow's architecture is treated by Kathleen Berton, Moscow: An Architectural History (1977), an illustrated survey; and Andrei V. Ikonnikov, Kammennaia letopis' Moskvy (1978), a detailed architectural guide, with maps. M.A. Il'in, Moscow: Monuments of Architecture of the 14th17th Centuries (1973), and Moscow: Monuments of Architecture 18ththe First Third of the 19th Century, 2 vol. (1975); and E. Kirichenko, Moscow: Architectural Monuments of the 18301910s (1977), contain photographs with explanatory texts in both English and Russian. Albert J. Schmidt, The Architecture and Planning of Classical Moscow: A Cultural History (1989), treats the period before and after the major fire of 1812 in the context of the classicism of other Russian and European cities. O.A. Shvidkovsky (ed.), Building in the USSR, 19171932 (1971), focuses on constructionist design. V. Kirillov, Arkhitektura russkogo moderna (1979); and Andrei V. Ikonnikov, Arkhitektura Moskvy, XX vek (1984), analyze 20th-century architecture. M.V. Posokhin (ed.), Pamiatniki arkhitektury Moskvy: Kreml', Kitai-gorod, tsentral'nye ploshchadi, 2nd rev. ed. (1983), describes major historical architectural complexes, including the Kremlin.A historical study of Moscow's culture may be found in Arthur Voyce, Moscow and the Roots of Russian Culture (1964, reissued 1972). Boris S. Zemenkov, Pamiatnye mesta Moskvy: stranitsy zhizni deiatelei nauki i kul'tury (1959), explores various places of interest associated with notable figures of science and culture. Cultural treasures in the museums of the Moscow area are described in Vladimir Chernov and Marcel Girard, Splendours of Moscow and Its Surroundings, trans. from French (1967); N.N. Voronin (ed.), Palaces and Churches of the Kremlin (1966); Arthur Voyce, The Moscow Kremlin: Its History, Architecture, and Art Treasures (1954, reprinted 1971); Boris A. Rybakov, Treasures in the Kremlin (1962); and David Douglas Duncan, Great Treasures of the Kremlin, rev. ed. (1968, reissued 1979).Institut Istorii (Akademiia Nauk SSSR), Istoriia Moskvy, 6 vol. in 7 (195259), is a comprehensive work on Moscow's historic development, including detailed analyses with illustrations of the economy, culture, science, art, architecture, education, public health, and other aspects. Also informative is S.S. Khromov et al. (eds.), History of Moscow: An Outline, trans. from Russian (1981). The following are special studies: Robert Eugene Johnson, Peasant and Proletariat: The Working Class of Moscow in the Late Nineteenth Century (1979); Laura Engelstein, Moscow, 1905: Working-Class Organization and Political Conflict (1982); Diane Koenker, Moscow Workers and the 1917 Revolution (1981); and Catherine Merridale, Moscow Politics and the Rise of Stalin: The Communist Party in the Capital, 192532 (1990), a political history of the city during an important period. The postrevolutionary period is presented in P.P. Andreev et al., Moskva za 50 let Sovetskoi vlasti, 19171967 (1968), a survey of the first 50 years of Soviet power. Kathleen Berton Murrell The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica