"Creating the Modern Stage: Designs for Theater and Opera" Exhibitions

The Morgan Library & Museum

poster for "Creating the Modern Stage: Designs for Theater and Opera" Exhibitions

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rawn from the Morgan's collection, the exhibition examines the origins of modern scenic design and chronicles the evolution of stage sets during the highly innovative period of ca. 1900 to 1970. Modern technology and materials allowed for innovative approaches to stage sets. Furthermore, new theories concerning the role of the actor and set in theatrical performances encouraged a radical departure. Imagination and vision were encouraged, allowing a vital and varied stagecraft to emerge throughout England, Europe, Russia, and America. On view are over fifty drawings, derived entirely from the Morgan's holdings, principally from the collection formed by the celebrated American set designer Donald Oenslager. Enriching these color drawings is related material, including musical scores, rare books, and autograph manuscripts, as well as more than thirty performance photographs documenting the finished set. The exhibition is divided into four thematic sections—Origins of Modern Scenic Theory, Destroying Tradition, the Russian Avant-Garde, and Diversity of the American Stage—together emphasizing the international scope of advances in set design.

[Image: Alexandra Exter "Construction for a Tragedy" (ca. 1925) gouache, with graphite and pen and black ink, over graphite, on paper prepared with a blue-gray ground 20 x 20 3/4 in. Gift of Mrs. Donald M. Oenslager, 1982. The Morgan Library & Museum.]

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