|
The bulk of the W. H. Crain Costume and Scenic Design Collection, circa 1650-1993,
consists of original renderings of costume and scenic designs for plays, operas,
ballets, revues, and films, augmented by works of art on paper, costumes, prints,
and other material. The collection is arranged in four series: I. Artists, circa
1650-1993 (28.5 boxes, 280 oversize folders), II. French Music-Hall, circa 1920-55
(0.5 box, 16 oversize folders), III. Toy Theater Prints, circa 1830-50, nd (1.5
boxes, 4 oversize folders), and IV. Sources, 1851-circa 1960 (0.5 box, 1 oversize
folder). Within each series, material is arranged alphabetically by name of artist
or production title, or chronologically as appropriate. In addition to providing
a
description of the contents and the location of each folder in the collection,
the
Item List includes supplemental information for all of the renderings and other
works of art in Series I and II, viz. the artist's name, the number of items,
and an
indication of the media used. Series I can be accessed by title of work via the
Index of Production Titles following the Item List. |
|
Represented in the Artists series are over eighty costume and scenic designers
ranging from the Bibienas in the seventeenth century to Jo Mielziner. Though the
work of French, British, and Russian artists is present, the emphasis is firmly
on
twentieth-century American designers. The series is divided into two subseries:
A.
Renderings, circa 1650-1993, and B. Other Materials, 1819-1979. Both subseries
are
arranged alphabetically by name of artist, then chronologically, with unidentified
artists placed at the end. Subseries A contains over 850 study sketches and
preliminary and final renderings executed in a variety of media for productions
staged in the United States and Europe. Included are woodcuts by Edward Gordon
Craig; renderings by Léon Bakst and Alexandre Benois for Serge
Diaghilev's Ballets Russe; Mielziner sketches covering nearly his entire career,
including work done while an apprentice to Robert Edmond Jones; a large group
of
Luigi Bartezago renderings, presumably for productions staged at La Scala; several
sketches by the Constructivists Aleksandra Exter and Boris Aronson; and a number
of
costume designs for the Ziegfeld Follies by James
Reynolds. Also included are a small number of original sketches attributed to
the
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century artists Jean Bérain, Fabrizio
Galliari, Pietro Gottardo Gonzaga, and members of the Bibiena family. Though many
artists are represented by a few items, the series includes at least ten sketches
for Percy Anderson, Lemuel Ayers, Cecil Beaton, Attilio Comelli, Archie Gunn,
James
Henderson, Houghton, Robert Edmond Jones, Charles Karl, William Henry Mathews,
Sidney H. Sime, Ernest Stern, and Dolly Tree. Item-level descriptions of Ernest
Stern's renderings for White Horse Inn are available
in an earlier finding aid in the Reading Room. |
|
Subseries B contains materials that relate to specific artists but which are not
renderings. Included here are ephemera, reproductions of renderings, works of
art on
paper, such as Edward Gordon Craig's non-theatrical woodcuts, and other formats.
Notable items are costumes by Bakst and Nicholas Roerich for Ballet Russe
productions of Narcisse and Le
sacre du printemps; an Edward Gordon Craig set model; nearly seventy
slides of Arch Lauterer designs; a portfolio of material pertaining to Edward
Gorey's sets and costumes for Dracula; scrapbooks
containing small renderings by R. Bööcke, Jo Mielziner, and
Georgii A. Pozhedaev; a small number of letters by Benois and his daughter Anna
Tcherkessof to Elizabeth Hudson and Antonina Fedorovna; and prints showing the
work
of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists Giuseppe Bibiena, Alfonso Parigi,
and Alessandro Sanquirico. |
|
The French Music-Hall series, circa 1920-55, contains souvenir programs and original
costume and scenic designs. Although many of the renderings are probably from
the
Folies-Bergère, it is likely that other Parisian venues are represented.
The bulk of the series comprises renderings for showgirls' costumes by Ranson,
Alec
Shanks, and Zig, and scenic designs by Dany. The material in this series was
purchased from a single source. |
|
The Toy Theater Prints series, circa 1830-50, nd, contains colorful plates intended
for children that show the characters and settings for plays. The bulk of the
series
consists of prints for over twenty plays that were popular enough in London for
British publishers to issue sets of plates as children's versions; however, the
prints in this series do not constitute complete sets. The plates, most of which
were published by Benjamin Pollock, I. J. Dyer and Co., or John Redington, are
arranged alphabetically by title; unidentified plays and a few non-alphabetical
groupings are placed at the end. Completing the series are four folders of undated
French and German toy theater prints published by Imagerie Pellerin and Verlag
J. F.
Schreiber. Item-level descriptions of most of the toy theater prints are available
in an earlier finding aid in the Reading Room. |
|
The Sources series, 1851-circa 1960, contains photographs, promotional materials,
sheet music, and clippings which illustrate popular styles of dress. Also included
is a reproduction of a modern artist's rendering of dancers in an eighteenth-century
ballet. |
|
Researchers will find related material in the Costume and Scenic Design Collection
and the Robert Downing Papers. The Theater Arts Collection includes the papers
of
the theatrical designers Boris Aronson, Norman Bel Geddes, Eldon Elder, Gordon
Conway, and James B. Newton, and the records of the costume firm of B. J. Simmons
and Co. |
|
Abbreviations in the List
- ALS=autograph letter signed
- b=box
- ff=flat file
- ob=oversize box
|
