My Life in Art is is the autobiography of the Russian director Constantin Stanislavski. Stanislavski. It was first commissioned while Stanislavski was in the United States on States on tour with the Moscow Art heatre! heatre! and was first published in "oston! Massachusetts in #nglish in $%&'. It was later revised and published in a Russian(language edition in Moscow under the title Моя жизнь в искусстве. It is divided into ' sections entitled) $(Artistic Childhood! &(Artistic *outh! +(Artistic Adolescence and '(Artistic Adulthood. Contents ,hide hide--
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$ Section ne n e ( Arti Artistic stic Childhoo Chil dhood d
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& Section wo ( Artistic Artist ic Adolescen Adole scence ce
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+ Section Sectio n hree ( Artistic Arti stic *outh *ou th
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' Section /our /ou r ( Arti Artistic stic Adulthoo Adul thood d
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0 Re Refe fere renc nces es
Section One - Artistic Childhood [edit edit]] his section! containing $$ chapters! begins with Stanislavski1s Stanislavski1s birth in $23+ and ends in his ea rly twenties. 4e first describes his family life and upbringing! discussing his early trips to the circus circus!! the Italian opera! opera! the ballet ballet and and his introduction to the Russian theatre. 4e describes the professional 5uppet Show! Show! which he and his siblings put on at home! as well as other events that shaped him early on as an a rtist. 4e describes his first e6perience e6perience acting! his e6perience as a director of the Moscow Musical Society and his brief and unsatisfying e6perience in the Maly heatre drama school! from which he dropped out within three weeks.
Section Two - Artistic Adolescence [edit edit]] In this very brief section! consisting of + chapters! Stanislavski describes his fleeting endeavors with an amateur theatrical group called he Alekseyev Circle 7Alekseyev was Stanislavski1s real last name8 put together by him and his siblings in the summer of $22'. heir goal was to put on operettas operettas which which were very popular at the time in Moscow. hese endeavors lead him on to the beginning of his acting career. In this section he also talks about his obsession with ballet and his ambitions to become an opera singer! which were both short(lived.
edit]] Section Three - Artistic Youth [edit his is the largest section of his autobiography and consists of '$ chapters. It begins with the foundation of the Moscow Society of Art and 9iterature in the winter of $222! which he founded at the age of &0 along with Russian director Ale6ander director Ale6ander /edotov and /edotov and the group of actors /edotov had put together! which included Stanislavski. /edotov had directed Stanislavski in a play by :ikolai ;ogol!! called <he 5layers<. Stanislavski considered /edotov the first
acting that he achieved in those ten years! through his e6perience as an actor and a director. 4e also tells about his ac>uaintance and relationship with 9ev olstoy. ne of the events that led to the founding of the Moscow Art heatre was Stanislavski1s ac>uaintance with the theatre1s co( director and co(founder ?ladimir :emirovich(@anchenko! who at the time was a well(known Russian playwright and director of the drama school of the Moscow 5hilharmonic Society. Among the schools graduates in the class of $2%2 were lga nipper and ?sevolod Meyerhold. At the Moscow Art heatre Stanislavski was in charge of the directing side of all productions and :emirovich(@anchenko was in charge of the literary side. At least they agreed that each of them would have the power of veto in their area of e6pertise! whenever an agreement could not be made on a particular subBect. he second half of section three describes the first nine years of the Moscow Art heatre1s e6istence up until their first international tour in $%3! when they traveled to "erlin. Stanislavski spends most of this section describing in dramatic detail his relationship with Anton Chekhov and the productions of Chekhov1s plays! beginning with their first production of <he Seagull
Section Four - Artistic Adulthood [edit] In this section! consisting of $2 chapters! Stanislavski describes the beginnings of his work on formulating a
uestions about the nature of acting as an art form. Eork on this system! according to Stanislavski! started during the $%3F= season o f the Moscow Art heatre. 4e began by e6perimenting on himself and other actors during rehearsals for plays and ended up using the actual productions for his e6periments in using new techni>ues! such as rela6ation and concentration on stage. It was in this period that he developed his principles of the uestion!
heatre1s productions of various plays! including Ivan urgenev1s < A Month in the Country<. 4e also talks about the Russian Revolution of $%$= and its effects on the heatre. 4e ends the book with a chapter entitled uestions. "ut he certainly got closer than most people before him and after. 4e laid the foundation for many of those who came after him! namely teachers like Stella Adler ! 9ee Strasberg! and Sanford Meisner ! who passed on his legacy to the ne6t generation of stage and film actors.
