Title: Robert Edmond Jones Designs
Inclusive Dates: 1933
Inclusive Dates: 1951

Creator:

• Jones, Robert Edmond, 1887-1954

Call Number: U.S. Mss 54AN

Quantity: 1.0 c.f. (oversize files)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
Contact Information

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Set designs by noted stage designer Robert Edmond Jones, including two sets of blueprints for a 1951 production of The Green Pastures, a ground plan for The Green Bay Tree (1933), and an unidentified watercolor.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0054an

Robert Edmond Jones, called “the most influential artist-designer in the modern theater,” was born in Milton, New Hampshire on December 12, 1887. At an early age he withdrew from rugged farm life, and his mother, a musician herself, allowed him to develop his artistic talents. From 1906 to 1910 he attended Harvard University, where Kenneth MacGowan introduced him to traditional and experimental theater.

In order to develop his skills, Jones traveled to Europe in 1913, settling in Berlin. His talents matured, he returned to the United States in 1914 and was shortly thereafter chosen to design the sets for the Anatole France play, The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife. With this venture he began a long and fruitful association with Arthur Hopkins. In 1916, at the request of Nijinsky, he became the first American to design sets for the Russian ballet. Jones also designed the sets for Richard III (1920), which some consider his greatest triumph, Macbeth (1921), Green Pastures (1929), Othello (1943), and The Lute Song (1946). In addition to ballet and the theater, Jones also was a scenic designer for operas, such as Allan Berg's opera, Wozzeck (1931).

Jones is especially noted for his scenic designs for Eugene O'Neill's plays. These include The Hairy Ape (1921), Desire Under the Elms (1924), The Great God Brown (1925), and Mourning Becomes Electra (1931). His involvement in all aspects of experimental theater was broad. From 1923 to 1925, he was associated with the Experimental Theater in Provincetown, and later with the Greenwich Village Theater. In 1933, he moved to Hollywood where he assumed a major role in the development of technicolor.

Jones is credited with developing the “new stagecraft,” a dramatic departure in set designing from the earlier realism. In the “new stagecraft,” he attempted to achieve a wholly new integration of the background with the spirit of the play in order to project more fully the playwright's thoughts. He emphasized the essentials, eliminating obscuring details. Jones expanded his theory of set design in his only book, The Dramatic Imagination (1941).

Jones' achievements won him many honors. In 1925, he won the Howland Memorial Prize awarded by Yale University, and in 1936, he was awarded the Fine Arts Medal by the American Institute of Architecture.

In 1933, Jones married Margaret Huston Carrington. They had no children. He died on November 26, 1954.

Source: Current Biography Yearbook, 1946

The collection contains only fragmentary evidence of Jones' contribution to the field of set design. Included are blueprints for stage sets of Green Pastures, a ground plan for The Green Bay Tree, and an unidentified set rendering.

The blueprints for Green Pastures consist of two sets of designs, one on blue papers and the other on white papers. Much of the white set duplicates the blue, but neither set is complete. In each set, the designs are arranged in a numerical sequence.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mason Arvold via A. A. Ostrander, New York, New York, 1962; by Morgan Farley, Los Angeles, California, 1968; and by Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, 1975. Accession Number: MCHC62-084, MCHC68-095, MCHC75-154

Processing Information

Processed by MFF, 1965, and Christine Rongone, 1979.

U.S. Mss 54AN	Green Pastures (1929) Blueprints
	White sheets
	Plan
	1: First draft, June 23, 1950
	1: Second draft, June 26, 1950
	1: Revision, June 29, 1950
	3: Lighting equipment layout, June 19, 1950
	4: Drapery and framed border, details, June 21, 1950
	5: Portal and returns, details, June 21, 1950
	5A: False floor, details, June 19, 1950
	6: Cloud legs, details, June 26, 1950
	7: Cloud borders and legs, details, June 26, 1950
	9: Sunday school, June 23, 1950
	11A: Fish fry tree, June 26, 1950
	20: God's office, undated
	24: Noah's house, undated
	24A: Noah's house, details, undated
	26: Noah's ark and waves, undated
	26A: Noah's ark, details, undated
	31: Throne room, details, June 22, 1950
	38: Hezdrel wall, details, June 22, 1950
	Blue sheets
	Plan
	1: , Undated
	1: Revision, October 16, 1950
	2: Section, October 16, 1950, revision
	4: Drapery and framed border, details, June 21, 1950
	4A: Foliage borders and woodwings, permanent ground row, details, June 26, 1950
	4B: Framed black devetyn drop and border, October 16, 1950
	5A: False floor, details, June 19, 1950
	6: Cloud legs, details, June 26, 1950
	7: Cloud border and lets, details, June 26, 1950
	8: Plans, Sunday school, July 5, 1950
	9: Sunday school, June 23, 1950
	9A: Sunday school, undated
	10: Plan, fish fry, November 1, 1950, revision
	11: Ramp and pearly gates, detail, October 18, 1950
	11A: Fish fry tree, June 26, 1950
	11B: Pearly gates - post, full size detail, October 18, 1950
	11C-D: Pearly gates, details (2), October 22, 1950
	13: Plan, garden, July 3, 1950
	18: Road slide, details, set pieces, September 18, 1950
	19: Plan, God's office, November 1, 1950, revision
	20: God's office, November 1950; January 4, 1951, revision
	20A: Sky backing, office, November 16, 1950
	21: Plan, roadside, November 1950
	23: Plan, Noah's house, November 1950
	24: Noah's house, November 1950
	24A: Noah's house, details, November 1950
	24B: Black drop for Noah's house, November 1950
	25: Plan, Noah's ark hillside, July 5, 1950
	26: Noah's ark and waves, November 1, 1950
	26A: Noah's ark, details, November 1, 1950
	27: Plan, Noah's ark at sea, July 5, 1950
	28: Plan, cave, September 21, 1950
	29: Returns for cave scene, November 13, 1950
	30: Plan, throne room, July 3, 1950
	31: Throne room, details, June 22, 1950
	31: Throne room, details, January 4, 1951, revisions
	31A: Throne room, banners, copy 1, copy 2, November 13, 1950
	32: Plan, marching scene, November 1, 1950, revision
	32: Plan, marching scene, January 26, 1951, revision
	33: Marching scene, hill details, September 18, 1950
	33A: Marching scene, step details, January 26, 1951
	34: Plan, night club, October 16, 1950, revision
	35: Night club elevation, June 23, 1950
	37: Plan, Hezdrel, July 1950
	38: Hezdrel wall, detail, June 22, 1950
	39: Ark animal heads, January 16, 1951
	The Green Bay Tree (NY: Cort Theatre, 1933)
Item File A63	Ground plan, circa 1933
Item File Size D	Unidentified set rendering, undated