Rees, Eleanor; (2020) The Kino-Khudozhnik and the material environment in early Russian and Soviet fiction cinema, c. 1907-1930. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis explores the figure of the kino-khudozhnik [set designer] in late-Imperial and early-Soviet fiction cinema in the silent era. In comparison to other members of the film-making team, such as the camera operator, the director and the script-writer, the kino-khudozhnik is a relatively under-researched subject. Drawing on film-makers’ memoirs, the contemporary cinema press and archival documents, this thesis examines the kino-khudozhnik’s contribution to the technical and creative sides of film-making in the period when cinema developed both as a new national industry and as a new art form in Russia. It thus considers cinema as a collaborative endeavour, an idea that held ideological significance in the early-Soviet era. It also provides an insight into the dynamics of studio film-making during the period, emphasising the role that available technology, the studio environment and professional partnerships, as much as the creative visions of individuals, played in shaping the evolution of film aesthetics. Many of the first kino-khudozhniki, who started their careers in Russian cinema in the 1910s, continued to work in the industry after its nationalisation in 1919. In examining the role of kino-khudozhniki across the late-Imperial and early-Soviet periods, this thesis highlights changes between these two eras, but it also emphasises continuities. In so doing, it questions traditional historical periodisations. In addition to examining the working practices of kino-khudozhniki, this thesis explores the sets they designed for films. Combining close visual analysis of a wide range of films and discussion of socio-cultural discourses of the period, it considers how representations of certain spaces – the rural provinces, the domestic interior, the workplace, and artistic and performative arenas – related to contemporary concerns about the material environment. In considering how filmmakers harnessed cinema’s ideological potential and used set design to promote certain ideas about the material environment, this thesis situates cinema as a key driver in shaping discourses about the built and object world in late-Imperial and early-Soviet Russia.

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