Pyotr (Vladimirovich) Vil'yams

(b Moscow, 30 April 1902; d Moscow, 1 Dec 1947). Russian stage designer and painter. He studied in the studio of Vasily Nikitich Meshkov (1868-1946) during the 1910s and at Vkhutemas in Moscow under Pyotr Konchalovsky and Konstantin Korovin from 1918 to 1923. He was one of the leading members of the Society of Easel Painters from 1925 to 1929. He originally worked as a painter and illustrated children's books; from 1929 he worked as a stage designer. As a painter he was noted for his portraits (e.g. of the director Konstantin Stanislavsky, 1933; St Petersburg, Rus. Mus.) and other works painted in a bold, energetic style with expressionistic overtones (e.g. Woman at a Window, 1930s; St Petersburg, Rus. Mus.).

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