Lev Kuleshov: biography and photos

This article examines the biography and creativity of Lev Kuleshov. During his life he managed to visit a screenwriter, teacher, doctor in the field of art and the People's Artist of the Soviet Union. In addition, he played a significant role in the study of the specificity of filming and the development of the art of editing.

Basic data

Lev Kuleshov lived a bright and colorful life full of events. He repeatedly produced autobiographical books, the most famous among them were "The Art of Cinema" and "How I Became a Director", as well as a number of articles in the journal "Herald in Cinematography", the main purpose of which was to convey to the readers their artistic experience.

In his works, Kuleshov was of the opinion that the actor and the scenery are equivalent, and in most cases the latter play an even more significant role. Consequently, the main figure in the process of creating a movie is not even a director, but an artist. That's why if a director does not have enough artistic skills, then he can never create a decent job.

As an example, Leo cited the case when a white barrette on the hairstyle of a maid spoiled the whole impression of the play of actors playing in the setting of the scenery of black velvet. He believed that cinema in the first place is a visual, spectacular art, so it is the artist-director should play a major role in the creation of the film.

Learning

Like his father, who died in 1911, Leo early felt a craving for beauty and became interested in fine arts, however, Lev Kuleshov could only begin to study it closely after he moved to Moscow with his mother and brother in 1914. There, after a repeated visit to the art studio, he decides to learn how to draw as well as great artists, and for this he begins to take lessons from the artist-teacher IF Smirnov. During the training he managed not only to instill Lion's love of classical painting, but also to teach to distinguish outstanding works from amateur ones. It was on the recommendation of the teacher that Kuleshov also read his first books of political orientation, for example Karl Marx's "Capital" and the works of Lenin and Plekhanov.

After graduating from individual studies, he enters the famous Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where not only his father was trained, but also the famous Vladimir Mayakovsky, who graduated from it a little earlier. It is noteworthy that with him in Kuleshov in the future formed strong friendships.

A family

Nobody in the family had any idea how great the person would be Lev Kuleshov, whose personal life was filled with a lot of events. He was born on January 1 (old style) in 1899 in Tambov. His father, Vladimir Sergeevich, came from an impoverished noble family. In due time, disobeying his parents, Vladimir comes to study fine arts in the same Moscow school, where later his son Leo will also be trained.

Having finished it, he, unfortunately, could not begin his career in the field of painting and entered the more than modest position of the Remingtonist in the Tambov earthly administration. In fact, he combined two posts at once and was both a clerk and a typist. At the same time, the desire for creativity prompted him to start working in his free time with a painted photograph. Lion's mother, Pelageya Alexandrovna, wore the surname of Shubin. She spent her childhood in the orphanage, after graduating from which, until her marriage, she worked as a teacher in the village. It is noteworthy that her portrait, made in her time by her father, is still hanging in the apartment of Lev Kuleshov. It is noteworthy that Kuleshov had an older brother, Boris, who died during the Great Patriotic War.

A passion for theater

Like most creative personalities, Lev Kuleshov did not pass away and his hobbies were theater.

Even as a pupil of the artist-teacher IF Smirnov, he was able to get a job in creating scenery for one of the acts of the play "Eugene Onegin" for the theater Zimin, but for independent work in the theater Kuleshov, not yet known at that time in the creative circles, So no one invited. That is why, despite all his efforts, the dream of the theatrical activity has not been realized.

Carier start

Kuleshov Lev Vladimirovich first encountered cinematographic activity in 1916, when he managed to get a job as an artist-decorator at A. Khanzhonkov's film factory. Not the least role in this was played by the protection of the mother of one of his school friends, who introduced Leo to the film director A. Gromov, who already helped him to get a job at a film factory. It was here that the young man's talent managed to unfold in full force. Under the direction of director Evgeny Bauer, whom he met at work, Leo quickly learns the basics of a new profession. In one of his autobiographical books, Kuleshov mentions that the work with Bauer was significantly different from working with other directors, since he did not limit Lev's work, allowing the young man to fully reveal his talent.

Later, when working with other directors, Kuleshov's manner of performance acquired a more masculine character. Despite the fact that at that time he was only 18 years old, he was gradually beginning to take the first steps towards developing his own style when decorating films.

First successes

Despite the existence of his own theories in the filming of films, Lev Kuleshov, whose films will be extremely popular in the future, remained primarily a practitioner. So, at the beginning of his career, he puts a joint film with the director V. Polonsky, which was called "The Song of Love undese". However, unfortunately, the film of this film has not survived until our days.

In 1918, he put his own film called "Project Engineer Priate." Unfortunately, this work was preserved by excerpts, but in the credits Kuleshov's name is mentioned twice: both as a director and as an artist. He tries to bring to the screen ordinary strong and healthy people who live in the real world, so most of the actions in the film were filmed at factories, train stations and educational institutions. Soon after this film was released, Kuleshov gets a job in the film and photo department of the People's Commissariat for Education as the head of the section of film editing and part-time director of newsreels.

The most famous movies

The events unfolding on the political front in 1918-1920, found a real reflection in the pictures that were shot by Lev Kuleshov. His filmography is extensive. The most famous newsreels:

• "Opening of the relics of Sergius of Radonezh."
• "Revision of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in the Tver Province."
• "The Urals."
• "First All-Russian Subbotnik".

In the period between filming "On the Red Front" and "Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks", Kuleshov, who successfully established himself as a director, manages to create his own filmmaker, write a number of articles and work as a teacher in the state film school.

Awards

Despite the fact that Lev Kuleshov shot many of his own films, his real creative take-off occurred only at the end of his career as a director:

• 1933 - "Great Comforter".
• 1942 - "Oath of Timur" according to the scenario of AP Gaidar.
• 1943 - "We are from the Urals."

In 1941, Kuleshov's major work, entitled "Foundations of Film Directing," was published, which was translated into many foreign languages and had a significant impact on the development of the cinematographic process.

After that, Leo decides to devote himself entirely to teaching at the VGIK, in order to be able to teach young filmmakers the art of making films.

The Kuleshov effect

If anyone was able to directly influence the technology of filming, it was Lev Kuleshov, the installation of which allowed for the first time to merge fragments separately from each other in combination with the face of a person allegedly experiencing and interpreting a number of diverse emotions. In the cinematic world, this concept was called the "Kuleshov effect."

A later interpretation of the effect consisted in the fact that the sound series was superimposed on the visual, and that, in turn, was polyphonic and, depending on the color, expressed its content differently.

Conclusion

During his life Kuleshov received a number of well-deserved awards, title and academic degree:

• Doctor of Arts.
• People's Artist of the RSFSR.
• The order of Lenin.
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

Leo Kuleshov preferred to spend the last years of his life with his wife Alexandra Khokhlova. He died on March 29, 1970 and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery (1 plot, 14th row).