Tatyana Bruni

Theatrical designer, graphic artist. Descended from Florentine humanist and historian Leonardo Bruni (c. 1370–1444), great-grandson of Fidelio Bruni. Born in the family of musician Georgy Bruni in St Petersburg (1902). Studied under Wilhelm Alfred Eberling at the School of Drawing of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1918–20) and under Osip Braz, Nikolai Radlov, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin at the VKhUTEIN (1920–26). Designed for the circus, ballet on ice, Young Ballet experimental group, Kirov Theatre of Opera and Balley, Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet, Leningrad Chamber Ballet, Classical Ballet and Leonid Jacobson’s Theatre of Choreographical Miniatures (from 1922). Designed the sets for Anton Arensky’s Adagio for Young Ballet (1923), Dmitry Shostakovich’s The Bolt for the Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet (1931), Johann Christian Hertel’s Vain Caution for the Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet (1937), Mikhail Chulaki’s The Imaginary Bridegroom for the Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet (1946), Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Francesco da Rimini for the Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet (1959), Igor Stravinsky’s The Firebird for the Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet (1962), Sergei Prokofiev’s Cinderella for the Kirov Theatre of Opera and Ballet (1964) and Jules Perrot and Maurice Petipa’s La Esmeralda for the Maly Theatre of Opera and Ballet (1981). Honoured Artist of the RSFSR, winner of the State Prize. Died in St Petersburg (2001).