Ita Maximowna

Ita Maximowna (born Margarita Maximowna Schnakenburg; 8 April 1988)

In the 1960s and 1970s, she also created film sets, such as Die Spieler and Die Nacht in Zaandam by Ludwig Berger, Der Revisor by Gustav Rudolf Sellner, and Die seltsamen Abenteuer des geheimen Kanzleisekretärs Tusmann by Helmut Käutner. At the end of her career, she turned to painting again. She is buried with her partner in an honorary grave on the Friedhof Heerstraße in Berlin-Westend .

Her artistic legacy is kept in the Ita-Maximowna-Archiv of the Archiv für Darstellende Kunst of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.

Awards Berliner Kunstpreis 1953 (for Die Zauberflöte)

Productions

Maximowna designed stage and costumes for around 400 productions of operas and plays.

For the Vienna State Opera, she created sets for Salome by Richard Strauss (1957), Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1958), Rossini's La Cenerentola and Il turco in Italia, and Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (1982). She designed the scene at the Salzburg Festival for Le nozze di Figaro from 1957, Die Zauberflöte from 1959, Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss from 1964, and Mozart's Così fan tutte from 1972, all directed by Rennert. The 1972 production was conducted by Karl Böhm.

In 1962, she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, designing Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, conducted by Nello Santi who also made his debut, with Leonie Rysanek and Carlo Bergonzi in the leading roles. A reviewer called her "one of the most sensitive and imaginative of contemporary designers". The same year, she designed for Puccini's Der Mantel (Il tabarro) at the Staatstheater Stuttgart, conducted by Ferdinand Leitner. In 1965, she designed for the world premiere of Klebe's Jacobowsky und der Oberst at the Hamburg State Opera.

Costume and stage designs Maximowna's designs have been described as "luftig-poetisch" (airy and poetic).