Sergei Eisenstein

Film director, script writer, graphic artist, film theorist, teacher. Born in the family of architect Mikhail Eisenstein and his wife Yulia Konetskaya in Riga (1898). Studied at the Institute of Civil Engineers in Petrograd (1915–18). Inscripted into the Russian army as an engineering ensign (spring 1917). Joined the Red Army (1918). Studied at the General Army Headquarters Academy and worked as a designer at the Proletcult Youth Theatre in Moscow (1920). Trained under Vsyevolod Meyerhold at the State Higher Studios of Stage Direction (1921–22), where he helped to design a number of productions, including Jack London’s The Mexican (1921). Headed a Proletcult theatrical studio (1923). Worked as a film director (from 1924), making Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925), October (1927) and The General Line (1929). Studied talking pictures in Europe and North America (1929–32), where he began work on a series of erotic drawings (1930s–40s). Taught at the All-Union Institute of Cinematography in Moscow (from 1932), professor (from 1937). Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1935), winner of the Stalin Prize (1941, 1946). Directed Alexander Nevsky (1938) and the first part of Ivan the Terrible (1944). Died of a heart attack in Moscow and buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery (1948). Contributed to exhibitions, including The Avant-Garde: Before and After at Europalia in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (2005).