Elizabeth Polunin

Elizabeth Violet Polunin (née Hart; 21 May 1887 – 15 June 1950) was a British artist and theatre designer, most notably for her work with Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.

Life and work

Polunin was born in Ashford, Kent and when she was aged 17 she went to Paris to study art at the Académie Colarossi under Lucien Simon and at the École des Beaux-Arts. Polunin continued her education at a private art school in Saint Petersburg where she was taught by Léon Bakst before she returned to England, where she studied under Walter Sickert at the Westminster School of Art.

In 1907 Elizabeth Hart married Vladimir Polunin in St. Petersburg. The Polunins moved to London and both worked as scene-painters in several theatres. Most notably they designed and painted sets for Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes during their regular London seasons and the couple soon became the principal set designers for the company, working with Léon Bakst. Diaghilev commissioned set designs and costumes from artists such as Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso, and they were to have a huge influence on Polunin. She produced portraits of both Diaghilev and the opera singer Feodor Chaliapin. Polunin also produced designs for Sir Thomas Beecham's Opera Company. Between 1924 and 1941 Polunin was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy. As well as her solo exhibitions, Polunin exhibited with the New English Art Club, the London Group and in Paris at the Salon des Independants and the Salon d'Automne.

Elizabeth and Vladimir Polunin had three sons who all became distinguished scientists. Oleg Polunin was an English botanist, teacher and traveller. Nicholas Vladimir Polunin (1909–1997) was an arctic explorer and environmentalist, Ivan Polunin (1920–2010) was a medical anthropologist, and a daughter Tanya Polunin (1921–2009) who was a piano teacher. A plaque at the site of Polunin's studio in Covent Garden records the time Picasso spent there.

Polunin died in Edgware, Middlesex, England on 15 June 1950.