You are bidding on one handwritten, signed letter theRussian-German set designer, costume designer and illustrator Ita Maximovna (1901-1988).

From the estate of a Berlin autograph collector who personally received autographs from singers and actors from the 1930s to the 1970s or had the artists send them to him by post (some of the envelopes are still there). -- Addressed to this collector.

On fine, thin A4 writing paper; with printed Berlin address.


17 - XI - 54

Dear Mr. Ludwig, I would like to thank you very much for your words and I will hasten to fulfill your request.

With best wishes, yours

Ita Maximovna.

Without envelope.


Encased in a protective sheet; with handwritten attribution "Ita Maximovna stage designer."

Condition: Letter folded lengthwise and crosswise; in excellent condition. Protective sheet with unsightly stain on the back. bplease note the pictures too!

Internal note: Opera 2104-2

UberIta Maximovna (Source: wikipedia):

Ita Maximovna (actually Margarita Maximovna Schnakenburg, married name: Ita Baumann; * 18. October July / 31. October 1901 greg. in Pskov; † 8th. April 1988 in West Berlin) was a Russian-German set designer, costume designer and illustrator. It is the stage name of one of Germany's first and most important stage designers, costume designers and graphic artists. Her creative period covers the period from the 40s to the 70s of the 20th century. century.

Life: Margarita Maximovna Schnakenburg was the daughter of the dentist Elisabeth Natalie Ernestine Schnakenburg, née. von Roth (1878–1966), and the dentist Max Karl Heinrich Schnakenburg (1875–1919) born. The family's first child and older brother was Heinrich Ludwig Nicolai Schnakenburg. Margarita Maximovna spent a fulfilling and happy childhood and youth in Pskov. After the father's premature death in 1919 from tuberculosis and driven by the turmoil of the Russian October Revolution, the mother and her two children fled to relatives in Davos, Switzerland. In 1920 the family emigrated to Germany, with Margarita's brother Heinrich doing an apprenticeship in Leipzig at the “Technikum für Buchdrucker” founded by Heinrich Julius Mäser, while Margarita moved to Berlin with her mother.

Margarita Maximovna Schnakenburg went to Paris in 1920 as a Russian teacher and met the graphic designer and set designer Marie Laurencin there. There she studied graphics and painting with her until the mid-twenties. Ita then deepened her training with the Berlin painter Erwin Freytag (1901–1940) and the painter, graphic artist and type designer Johannes Boehland (1903–1964) at the Academy of Arts in Berlin. At the beginning of the 1930s, Ita Maximovna married Carl Fredrik Baumann, former director and general counsel of the Maizena-Werke Hamburg, in Berlin. In the 1930s and 1940s she designed packaging designs and advertising graphics for Maizena products and also illustrated numerous books, including a very successful book about stylish women's clothing that was published several times (see works). The marriage was annulled at the end of the Second World War.

In the mid-1940s, Ita Maximovna met her future partner Karlheinz Martin, who made a great contribution to the reconstruction of Berlin theater life after 1945. Karlheinz Martin opened up the fantastic world of stage design to Ita Maximovna as the then director of the Hebbel Theater in Berlin. From now on she began to use her stage name “Ita Maximovna” as a shortening of her first name and patronymic. She worked for many years on the stages of the Hebbel Theater, Renaissance Theater, Schiller Theater and Schlosspark Theater in Berlin, as well as internationally for opera houses in London, Paris, Milan, Vancouver, Buenos Aires and New York City. She worked with well-known directors and conductors such as the aforementioned Karlheinz Martin, but also with OE Hasse, Karl-Heinz Stroux, Leo Blech and Herbert von Karajan. She performed countless productions around the world, especially with Günther Rennert. In the following years there was intensive collaboration between Ita Maximovna and her good friend and assistant Martin Rupprecht, who later became professor of stage design and stage costumes at the Berlin University of the Arts.

After her intensive creative phase as a set designer and costume designer for theaters and opera houses, Ita Maximovna also designed buildings and costumes for film projects in the 60s and 70s. At the end of her career she devoted herself more and more to painting and left behind a large number of graphics and paintings.

During her lifetime as an artist, she did not give any specific figures about the time of her birth, which is why a variety of different information appears in various sources. The 31st October 1901 as her exact date of birth is based on documents from the estate.

Ita Maximovna died of heart failure in Berlin in April 1988.[7] She rests in the honorary grave of her partner, the artistic director and director Karlheinz Martin (1886–1948), in the state-owned Heerstraße cemetery in Berlin-Westend (grave location: II-Erb.-31).

The largest part of her artistic legacy is now in the “Ita Maximovna Archive” of the “Archive for Performing Arts” of the Berlin Academy of the Arts and can be viewed there.

Awards

Berlin Art Prize 1953 (for the stage design for The Magic Flute, Berlin Municipal Opera)

Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class 5. March 1987 presented by Richard von Weizsäcker[

Stage designs and costume designs

Ita Maximovna has a total of approx. 400 productions for opera or theater equipped with set and costume designs. A small selection of important national and international performances is listed here:

1945 – Macbeth (Shakespeare), Hebbel Theater Berlin, directed by Karlheinz Martin.

1949 – The Dirty Hands (JP Sartre), Renaissance Theater Berlin, directed by OE Hasse.

1950 – Don Carlos (F. v. Schiller), opening of the Theater der Stadt Bonn, directed by F. Reichert.

1952 – Peer Gynt (H. Ibsen), Schauspielhaus Hamburg, directed by H. Koch.

1953 – The Magic Flute (WA Mozart), Municipal Opera Berlin, production: G. Rennert.

1955 – Carmen (G. Bizet), Milano Teatro alla Scala, conductor and director: H. von Karajan.

1956 – Salome (R. Strauss), Milano Teatro alla Scala, conductor and director: H. von Karajan.

1957 - A Long Day's Journey into the Night (E. O'Neill), guest performance by the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus in the Bad Godesberg City Theater, directed by KH Stroux[11]

1959 – Ariadne on Naxos (R. Strauss), Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt Paris, directed by G. Rennert.

1961 – An Ideal Husband (O. Wilde), Burgtheater Vienna, directed by J. Gielen.

1963 – Un ballo in maschera, A Masquerade Ball (G. Verdi), Metropolitan Opera New York, directed by G. Rennert.

1963 – Don Giovanni (WA Mozart), Teatro Colón Buenos Aires, directed by H. Hartleb.

1965 – La Cenerentola (G. Rossini), Cologne Opera House, directed by G. Rennert.

1967 – Così fan tutte (WA Mozart), Zurich Opera House, directed by L. Lindtberg.

1968 – The Turk in Italy (G. Rossini), Munich State Opera, directed by G. Rennert.

1970 – Viva la Mamma (G. Donizetti), Teatro La Fenice Venice, directed by H. Käutner.

1973 – Il tabarro, The Coat and Gianni Schicchi (G. Puccini), Munich State Opera, directed by G. Rennert.

1975 – The Coronation of Poppea (C. Monteverdi), San Francisco Opera, directed by G. Rennert.

1975 – Death in Venice (B. Britten), Munich State Opera, directed by H. Hartleb.

1978 – The Coronation of Poppea (C. Monteverdi), Théâtre des Nations de Paris, directed by G. Rennert.

Works: Ita Maximovna has added graphics and illustrations to books by numerous authors. Finally, in 1982, she published her own book about her years of work as a set and costume designer at Ernst Wasmuth Verlag Tübingen.

Anton Krapf: "Thoughtful Women's Clothing - A Beauty Primer" With 110 drawings by Ita Baumann, Heinz Schnakenburg Verlag, Berlin 1934 (1. edition).

Samuil Marschak: The twelve months. A fairy tale game. Illustrated by Ita Maximovna, Bruno Henschel and Son publishing house, Berlin 1947.

Ewan MacColl: Olive Branch Company. Comedy, figurines by Ita Maximovna, Bruno Henschel and Son publishing house, Berlin 1948.

Nikolai Lesskow: The left-hander. Illustrated by Ita Maximovna, Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1949.

Annedore Leber: Who is traveling with you? Drawings by Ita Maximovna, Mosaik-Verlag GmbH, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main 1952.

Annedore Leber: We play: Little People – Little Citizens. Card game, illustrations by Ita Maximovna, Mosaik-Verlag GmbH, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main 1953.

Ita Maximovna: Stage picture book - designs, stage photos and figurines. Ernst Wasmuth Verlag Tübingen 1982, ISBN 3-8030-3027-7.

In the mid-1940s, Ita Maximovna met her future partner Karlheinz Martin, who made a great contribution to the reconstruction of Berlin theater life after 1945. Karlheinz Martin opened up the fantastic world of stage design to Ita Maximovna as the then director of the Hebbel Theater in Berlin. From now on she began to use her stage name “Ita Maximovna” as a shortening of her first name and patronymic. She worked for many years on the stages of the Hebbel Theater, Renaissance Theater, Schiller Theater and Schlosspark Theater in Berlin, as well as internationally for opera houses in London, Paris, Milan, Vancouver, Buenos Aires and New York City. She worked with well-known directors and conductors such as the aforementioned Karlheinz Martin, but also with OE Hasse, Karl-Heinz Stroux, Leo Blec