(1909, Rostov-on-don in 1969, Nizhny Novgorod)
Honored artist of the RSFSR. Theater artist, actor. Studied at school of painting and sculpture from M. Sarian, B. Riha, in the drama Studio don Philharmonic. Worked in the theatres of Ukraine. Since 1929 engaged in decorative design work, creating sketches of scenery, costumes, makeup. From 1935 he worked in the Gorky theater of Opera and ballet. A. S. Pushkin, where he designed over a hundred performances. Collaborated with Academic Grand Theatre (1946, G. H. Rimsky-Korsakov, may night), with the Leningrad drama theatre. Leningrad with the Leningrad Academic Small Opera theatre, with the Chelyabinsk Opera and ballet theatre and others. His works are in the state Central theatre Museum im. A. A. Bakhrushin, in the Nizhny Novgorod Museum of fine arts.
Honored artist of the RSFSR. Theater artist, actor. Studied at school of painting and sculpture from M. Sarian, B. Riha, in the drama Studio don Philharmonic. Worked in the theatres of Ukraine. Since 1929 engaged in decorative design work, creating sketches of scenery, costumes, makeup. From 1935 he worked in the Gorky theater of Opera and ballet. A. S. Pushkin, where he designed over a hundred performances. Collaborated with Academic Grand Theatre (1946, G. H. Rimsky-Korsakov, may night), with the Leningrad drama theatre. Leningrad with the Leningrad Academic Small Opera theatre, with the Chelyabinsk Opera and ballet theatre and others. His works are in the state Central theatre Museum im. A. A. Bakhrushin, in the Nizhny Novgorod Museum of fine arts.
A. M. Mazanov was awarded the title "Honored worker of arts of RSFSR". Many theater-goers of the older generation admiringly called him a magician of the stage.
Boris Pokrovsky, people's artist of USSR, laureate of State prize, Professor, head of the chamber music theater, for many years the chief Director of the Bolshoi theater of the USSR, 1938 – Director from 1940 to 1943 – the chief Director of Gorky theatre of Opera and ballet:
"Look at his sketches, - says the Maestro, and you will see most of their existing people, scenes, defining the feelings of the characters in this theatrical moment. Mazanova were interested not in the scenery, and the people living in them, the actors...Sketch A. Mazanova to the design of the play was most like a painting, it was theater, stage, performance. In them you saw the course of events...
Mazanov worked avidly and just couldn't stop their imagination. However, it is important to note that all of the many variants were carriers of one idea, one emotional and conceptual solutions...the Music he was inseparable from the feeling of the scene. He loved to listen to music, but also was able to see her performance...
His decorations are all evoked a sense of aesthetic elation, the joy of meeting with the beautiful. He did not build on the scene of the mysterious formulas that were not counted on the speculation of the public, did not seek to rise above the understanding of the "average viewer"... I knew that his skill are no barriers, the most daring ideas in him were good on stage, and most seemed primitive means. A. M. Mazanov brilliantly mastered the skill of theatrical trick, effect, shaped the illusion. This skill is part of his talent"
