Nicolas Evreinoff, Russian 1879 to 1953, original oil on canvas painting depicting a seascape. Signed lower right. Housed in a gilt wood frame. Note: The son of a French woman and a Russian engineer, Evreinoff developed a keen interest in theatre from an early age, penning his first play at the age of 7. Six years later, he performed in a wandering circus as a clown. He attended a gymnasium in Pskov, before moving to the School of Jurisprudence in Saint Petersburg. It was there that he staged his first full-fledged play, The Rehearsal, followed by an opera bouffe, The Power of Charms, 1899. Having matriculated from the school in 1901, Evreinov turned his attention to music and studied with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the Moscow Conservatory for a couple of years. In 1907-08 and 1911-12 he was involved in reconstructing the world of medieval plays and those dating from the Spanish Golden Age at the Starinny Theatre, Old-Fashioned Theatre, in Saint Petersburg. The foremost Russian actress, Vera Komissarzhevskaya, asked him to cast her in the leading role for his version of Francesca da Rimini, 1908. Later that year, Evreinovs production of Oscar Wilde's Salome was suppressed on the orders of Nicholas II. Evreinov's association with the Komissarzhevsky family continued for several years. Together with Theodore Komisarjevsky, he staged a number of harlequinades and monodramas as part of his new project, The Merry Theatre for Aged Children. His concept of monodrama was exemplified in The Theater of the Soul, a 1915 production set inside the human breast as the repository of the soul. In 1910, Evreinov quit his job at the Ministry of Railways to take the helm as producer, dramatist, and composer of the False Mirror Theatre in Saint Petersburg. It was there that he staged more than one hundred plays, including fourteen pieces written by himself. His production of The Government Inspector was a milestone in the history of Russian theatre: each act was staged so as to parody one of the following aesthetics: provincial realist theatres, the Moscow Art Theatre of Constantin Stanislavski, the techniques of Edward Gordon Craig and Max Reinhardt, and slapstick comedy films. In 1922 and 1923 Evreinov visited Berlin and Paris where his plays were produced by the likes of Jacques Copeau and Charles Dullin. He spent the rest of his life in Paris, working with the Opera Russe, Sorbonne, and Serge Lifar. He prepared a comprehensive monograph tracing the History of Russian Theatre through the centuries. Many of his later plays have never been staged, including the anti-Stalinist drama, The Steps of Nemesis, with such characters as Alexei Rykov, Nikolai Bukharin, Genrikh Yagoda, and Nikolai Yezhov. One of a kind artwork. Russian Fine Art, Seascape Paintings And Wall Decor Collectibles.