Jury Annenkov was a Russian novelist and artist, who created book illustrations and portraits. He wrote under the pseudonym Boris Temiryazev.
Background
Jury Annenkov was born on July 23, 1889 in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russian Empire (present-day Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia). He was the son of Pavel Annenkov, who was involved in revolutionary activities, that led him to exile in Siberia.
Education
In 1908, Jury Annenkov enrolled in the Saint Petersburg State University, attending Savely Seidenberg's studio classes, together with Marc Chagall at the same time.
In 1909, the artist attended Jan Ciaglinski's studio.
In the 1900s, Annenkov met the famous Russian artist Ilya Repin, who was a neighbor of the Annenkovs in the St. Petersburg suburb of Kuokkala. Repin's art made a strong impression on young Annenkov, though he became interested in a more experimental and avant-garde movements.
In 1911-1912, Annenkov moved to Paris, where he started to work in the studios of Maurice Denis and Félix Vallotton. In 1913, he left for Switzerland.
In the summer of 1912, Jury stayed in the region of Brittany, France, where he created paintings of marine fishes and plants. Upon his return to St. Petersburg in 1914, Annenkov mostly contributed to magazines (Satirikon, Teatr i Iskusstvo, Otechestvo) and worked for theatres.
Some time later, the artist illustrated Maxim Gorky's fairy-tale book, "Samovar", which was published in 1917. In the next few years, Annenkov designed numerous books for Petrograd authors. In 1919, he designed and staged "First Distiller, or How an Imp Earned a Hunk of Bread", a comedy by Count Lev Tolstoi.
On May 1, 1920, Jury collaborated with Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, S. Maslovski and A. Kugel in order to design and stage the open-air mystery "Liberated Labour Anthem". The same year, Annenkov staged and designed mass spectacle "The Storming of the Winter Palace" in Palace Square, Petrograd (present-day Saint Petersburg).
During the period from 1919 to 1920, Jury Annenkov created a series of abstract sculptural assemblages and collages, influenced by the Dada movement.
In 1922, Jury finished his book "Portraits", which contained 80 pictures of the key-figures of Russian art of the time (Gorki, Zamyatin, Remizov, Sologub, Blok, Akhmatova and others). The following year, he illustrated "Moydodyr" by Korney Chukovsky.
In 1924, he visited Italy and in 1925 the artist settled down in Paris. In France, he continued to work as an artist and served as a costume designer for motion pictures. The same year, in 1925, Jury took part in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris.
Since 1928, Annenkov held solo exhibitions. Beginning from 1934, he began to work in cinematography and performed the sets and costumes for more than 50 films, including "Mayerling", "Taras Bulba", "L'Éternel retour" and others.
During the German occupation, he set operas "The Queen of Spades" and "Eugene Onegin" by P. I. Tchaikovsky and "The Marriage" by M. P. Mussorgsky in the Pleyel's hall.
During the period from 1969 to 1970, Annenkov edited books of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Mikhail Bulgakov at the publishing house YMCA Press.