Here are a few references of a general nature relating to twentieth century set designers, arranged chronologically by date of publication, which may prove helpful, and which I have in stock. The bibliographies should offer additional leads.

 

Bourgeois Galleries. American Stage Designs; An Illustrated Catalogue of the Models, Drawings and Photographs Exhibited at the Bourgeois Galleries, April 5th to 26th, 1919, With Articles by Maxwell Armfield, Michael C. Carr, Norman-Bel Geddes, C. Raymond Johnson, Robert Edmond Jones, Rollo Peters, Irving Pichel, Hermann Rosse, Lee Simonson, J. Blanding Sloan, Joseph Urban, John Wenger, and Kenneth MacGowan. New York: Published by Theatre Arts Magazine, 1919. Landmark exhibition (the first of its kind) of the leading American designers for the theatre, reflecting the most advanced modernist tendencies in stage design. [37] p. (text) + 16 plates. Catalogue of 81 exhibits.

 

Simonson, Lee. The Stage is Set. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [c1932]. xvii + 585 p. 103 ill. History and philosophy of stage design by one America’s leading designers, with critical bibliography.

 

Komisarjevsky, Theodore. Settings and Costumes of the Modern Stage by Theodore Komisarjevsky and Lee Simonson (The Studio Winter Number, edited by C.G. Holme). London: Studio Limited; New York: Studio Publications, Inc., 1933. 132 p. 193 ill. (7 color). Survey of contemporary stage design and costume in Europe and the United States, with index of designers, producers and productions.

 

International Exhibition of Theatre Art. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1934. 66 + [69] p. 66 ill. Catalogue of 707 exhibits, including contemporary theatre and costume designs from fourteen countries, with 143 exhibits from the U.S. Introduction, "The Designer in the Theatre" by Lee Simonson; additional essays by Allardyce Nicoll, John Anderson, Paul Alfred Merbach, Oliver M. Sayler and John Mason Brown (on "American Theatre and its Designers").

 

Anderson, John & Rene Fülöp-Miller. The American Theatre, By John Anderson, and The Motion Picture in America By Rene Fülöp-Miller. New York: Dial Press, 1938. ix + 430 p. 420 ill. (25 color), including stage and cinema designs, sketches and photos, with emphasis on the visual arts of the theatre and cinema. Bibliography.

New York Public Library. Ten Years of American Opera Design at The Juilliard School of Music: A List of the Material Presented to The New York Public Library by The Juilliard School of Music and displayed, in part, in an Exhibition held in the Library from November 13 to December 10, 1941. New York: New York Public Library, 1941. 20 p. Catalogue of photographs, candid camera shots, and original drawings, with chronological list of operas, 1931-1941, represented in the Juilliard collection. Introduction by Frederick J. Kiesler, Scenic Director of the Juilliard School of Music; list of scenic and costume designers and photographers represented.

 

Hainow, René. Stage Design Throughout the World Since 1935; Texts and illustrations collected by the National Centres of The International Theatre Institute chosen and presented by René Hainow with the technical advice of Yves - Bonnat; A Sketch to Serve as Foreword by Jean Cocteau. [Bruxelles]: Elsevier, [1957]. 222 p. + frontispiece in two colors by Jean Cocteau, with Cocteau‛s written foreword on verso; 429 ill. (34 color) in text, arranged by country. Preface by Kenneth Rae; introductory notes on stage design in twenty-three countries by various contributors, with extended essays on stage design in Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; index of designers, authors, composers and choreographers.

 

American Federation of Arts. Fifty Years of Ballet Design: A retrospective exhibition of ballet designs, assembled to commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the first performance by the Ballet Russe de Serge Diaghilev at the Théâtre de Chatelet, Paris, May 18, 1909. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1959. 27 p. 13 ill. Catalogue of 493 exhibits, representing the work of nearly one hundred artists and designers, with productions noted for each. Foreword by John E. Brown; introduction by David Reynolds. Exhibition organized by the John Herron Art Museum, Indianapolis.

International Exhibitions Foundation. Russian Stage and Costume Designs for the Ballet, Opera and Theatre . . . . A Loan Exhibition from the Lobanov-Rostovsky, Oenslager and Riabov Collections / Circulated by the International Exhibitions Foundation 1967-1969. [N.p.: Eastern Press, 1967]. 64 p. 118 ill. (1 color). Catalogue of 111 exhibits. Introduction, "Russian Painters and the Rebirth of Theatre Arts" by Georges P. Annenkov; biographical notes on thirty artists and designers; bibliography.

 

Rischbieter, Henning, compiler. Art and the Stage in the 20th Century; Painters and Sculptors Work for the Theater. Edited by Henning Rischbieter. Documented by Wolfgang Storch. [Translated from the German by Michael Bullock]. Greenwich, Ct.: New York Graphic Society Ltd., [1970]. 306 p. 450 ill. (33 color). Includes catalogue of productions, arranged alphabetically by artist, with selected comments and bibliography for each; general bibliography; list of exhibitions.

 

International Theatre Institute of the United States, Inc. Contemporary Stage Design U.S.A. Edited by Elizabeth B. Burdick, Peggy C. Hansen and Brenda Zanger. Middletown, Ct.: Distributed by Wesleyan University Press, [c1974]. 164 p. 160 ill. (23 color). Checklist of works relating to 116 productions. Essays by Rosamond Gilder, Donald Oenslager, Howard Bay, Jerry N, Rojo, David Jenkins, Patricia Zipprodt, Boris Aronson, Ming Cho Lee, Rouben Ter-Arutunian, Charles Elson; biographies of 68 designers.

 

Artists‛ Sets and Costumes: Recent collaborations between painters and sculptors and dance, opera, and theater. Philadelphia: Philadelphia College of Art. 1977. 51 p. 25 ill. (6 color). Catalogue of exhibits for sixty-eight productions, including posters, stage set designs, costumes and drawings by Joe Brainard, Alexander Calder, Jim Dine, David Hockney, Robert Indiana, Jasper Johns, Alex Katz, Marisol, Isamu Noguchi, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, and others. Introductory essay by Janet Kardon; "Enlisting Artists as Designers for the Theater" (originally published in The New Yorker, August 1976) by Don McDonagh; documentation on more than two hundred collaborations, 1945-1977, compiled by Elaine Cocordas.

 

Jacobson, Robert. Magnificence: Onstage at the Met; Twenty Great Opera Productions; Photo Editor: Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Simon and Schuster / The Metropolitan Opera Guild, [c1985].  256 p. 274 ill. (1127 color). Survey of set design, costume and lighting for twenty major recent productions, with introductory chapter on earlier productions, 1883-1966. Designers include Franco Zeffirelli, Marc Chagall, Boris Aronson, David Hockney, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and others.

 

Ray Smith / R.W. Smith Bookseller

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