Nikolay Musatov was a Soviet painter, graphic artist, theatrical decorator, and a member of the Union of Soviet Artists since 1932. Born in 1895, he studied at the Stroganov Moscow Central School of Arts and Industry (1908–1917), graduating as an "artist of decorative painting and theatre", and later continued his education at Vkhutemas (1917–1922). Nikolay Musatov began his creative career as a children's toy artist and soon became an independent set designer. In the 1920s, he actively collaborated with the GOSET (State Jewish Theatre), designing performances such as "Masks" by Sholem Aleichem and "The Sorceress" by Abraham Goldfaden. In 1922, his diploma work at Vkhutemas was the staging of "1001 Nights" at Natalia Sats's Children's Musical Theatre. From 1926, Nikolay Musatov worked as an artist at the Bolshoi Theatre, where, in collaboration with choreographer Kasyan Goleizovsky, he created innovative sets and costumes for ballets such as "The Tale of the Beetle and Dragonflies" to Edvard Grieg's music, "Salome" by Richard Strauss, and "Tragedy of Masks" by Boris Ber. He also designed performances at the Dramatic Theatre named after MGSPS (including "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen) and the opera "The Snow Maiden" at the Kharkiv State Opera. In addition to theatre, Nikolay Musatov gained fame as a master of exhibition and pavilion design. He designed pavilions for the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition, as well as Soviet pavilions at international exhibitions in Leipzig, Paris, and New York. The online collection of the Bakhrushin Theatre Museum features sketches by Nikolay Musatov for the ballet "Whirlwind" at the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre of the USSR, directed by Kasyan Goleizovsky.