(b Melitopol’, Ukraine, 26 July 1898; d Moscow, 23 June 1980). Russian painter, graphic artist, stage designer and sculptor of Ukrainian birth. He was born into a Jewish family of carpenters. From childhood he was fascinated by itinerant showmen, puppeteers, gypsies and market traders who carried their wares in large baskets or their booths on their heads. From 1912 to 1917 he studied at the Kiev school of art. At the time of the 1917 revolution he was working in Alexandra Exter’s studio, where he met other young artists interested in the theatre, notably I. Rabinovich (1894–1961) and N. Shifrin (1892–1961). After service in the 12th Army he returned in 1919 to Melitopol’, where he created propaganda posters and cartoons for ROSTA (the Russian Telegraph Agency). In 1921 he went to Moscow and undertook some teaching in Vkhutemas (the Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops). He was a founder member of the SOCIETY OF EASEL PAINTERS where, among other works, he exhibited War (1925; Moscow, Tret’yakov Gal.) and Young Girl and Aeroplane (1927; former USSR, priv. col.). During the 1930s Tyshler was attacked for his alleged formalism but continued to work, concentrating on theatrical design. In 1935 he designed Richard III for the Gor’ky Theatre, Leningrad (now St Petersburg), and King Lear for the State Jewish Theatre, Moscow (both designs Moscow, Bakhrushin Cent. Theat. Mus.), the latter production attracting the enthusiasm of Edward Gordon Craig. In the last 20 years of his life he resumed his depictions of itinerant showmen and young lovers, and he executed designs for Shakespeare’s plays.

• Tyshler, Aleksandr (Grigor'yevich)
  • Russia, §IV, 3(i): Painting, graphic arts and sculpture, 1917–56
  • groups and movements
    • Red’ko, Klyment
    • Society of Easel Painters