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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Dear collective wisdom,
I have
a student working on an independent study project on the topic of artists who
were set designers in the 20th-21st centuries. While she has found tons of
sources on individual artists who worked as set designers, she is looking for
more compilations or comprehensive sources on the topic as a whole. I have tried
searching for "set design" and "artists" as subjects in various databases (DAAI,
Art Abstracts, to name a couple), but am also getting hit or miss relevancy
(lots of articles/ books on individual artists, but no comprehensive articles on
the topic as a whole). Any ideas from the great minds of ARLIS? Many
thanks,
Rachel
--
Rachel Beckwith
Arts Librarian
Hampshire College Library
893 West Street
Amherst, MA 01002
413-559-5433
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