Petr Vladimirovich Viliams

Born Apr. 17 (30), 1902, in Moscow; died there Dec. 1, 1947. Theatrical artist, painter, and graphic artist. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1944).

Vil’iams studied at the studio of V. N. Meshkov (from 1909) and at the State Higher Arts and Technical Studio (1919-24) with K. A. Korovin, I. I. Mashkov, D. P. Shterenberg, and other artists. He was a member of the Society of Easel Painters (1925-30). He worked as a professor at the Moscow Institute of Applied and Decorative Art (1947). Vil’iams first worked at easel painting—portrait of V. E. Meierkhol’d (1925) and Female Acrobat (1926), both hanging in the Tret’iakov Gallery—and illustrated children’s books. In 1929 he began to work as a theatrical artist and from 1941 to 1947 was principal artist at the Bol’shoi Theater. His works of the early 1930’s were characterized by the use of the techniques of easel painting and the use of decorative panel backdrops (The Pickwick Club, based on Dickens, Moscow Art Theater, 1934). In subsequent years, Vil’iams strove to create illusory stage pictures. His theatrical efforts include Rossini’s William Tell (1942; State Prize of the USSR, 1943), Glinka’s Ivan Susanin (1939 and 1945), and Prokofiev’s Cinderella (1945; State Prize of the USSR, 1946) and Romeo and Juliet (1946; State Prize of the USSR, 1947) at the Bol’shoi Theater and Bulgakov’s Last Days (Pushkin) (1943) at the Moscow Art Theater. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.