Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 8

Jo Mielziner
"Daughters of Atreus" Broadway Play Set Design Drawing American Modernism WPA

1936

$12,500
£9,494.06
€10,968.77
CA$17,519.20
A$19,607.28
CHF 10,233.49
MX$239,107.76
NOK 130,974.80
SEK 123,984.42
DKK 81,858.51
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

"Daughters of Atreus" Broadway Play Set Design Drawing American Modernism WPA. 8 x 10 ¾ inches. Graphite on paper, 1936. Initialed on lower right. The play opens October 14, 1936 at Broadway’s 44th Street Theatre. Handwritten title, date, and signature on lower center of original matte which is now affixed to the verso. Inscription on lower right of matte reads, "For Prince & Barbara - Jo Mielziner- May 1945". BIO Joseph Mielziner was the son of artist Leo Mielziner and Ella Lane McKenna Friend, a writer. Mielziner was the brother of actor-director Kenneth MacKenna. Their paternal grandfather was a rabbi. He studied painting at the Art Students League and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His brother recruited him as a stage manager for summer stock, where Mielziner discovered his passion for scenic design. With fellowships he received from the Pennsylvania Academy, he had the opportunity to study set design in Paris, Vienna, and Berlin. Additionally, he served as an apprentice to Robert Edmond Jones, designer of Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under The Elms. Mielziner was considered one of the most influential theatre designers of the 20th century, designing the scenery and often the lighting for more than 200 productions, many of which became American classics. After his education and spending 13 months in Europe "absorbing the revolutionary changes occurring in traditional stage design", in 1923 he worked for the Theatre Guild in New York as an assistant stage manager and bit actor. Mielziner's Broadway debut as a designer was in 1927 with The Guardsman, for which he designed the scenery and lighting. His other Broadway credits include the original productions of Sweet and Low, Of Thee I Sing, Another Part of the Forest, Winterset, Oh, Captain!, Dodsworth, Strange Interlude, Carousel, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls, The King and I, A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Gypsy, and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, as well as the film Picnic and the ballet Who Cares?. He won the Academy Award for best color art direction for his work on Picnic. In the course of his career, Mielziner won seven Tony Awards and was nominated for another five. He also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design. His influence extended outside of the theatre. He was acquainted with the American artist Edward Hopper, who is said to have modeled his well-known painting Early Sunday Morning (1930) after Mielziner's set for Elmer Rice's play Street Scene, produced in 1929. Mielziner designed the theater at Wake Forest University and co-designed the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center with architect Eero Saarinen. He designed the setting for the Vatican Pavilion's showing of Michelangelo's Pietà at the 1964 New York World's Fair. He resided for many years at The Dakota and can be seen working in his studio in an exterior shot in the film Rosemary's Baby. He died on March 15, 1976, in a New York taxicab four days before his 75th birthday. He was rushing between meetings for The Baker's Wife, a musical for which he was designing.
  • Creator:
    Jo Mielziner (1901 - 1976, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1936
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 19 in (48.26 cm)Width: 22 in (55.88 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1156210035162

More From This Seller

View All
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" Original Broadway Set Design Mid 20th Century American
By Jo Mielziner
Located in New York, NY
Jo Mielziner (1901 – 1976) "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," 7 ½ x 11 ½ inches. Pencil on paper. Label verso from Richard Stoddard, Dated June 18. 1996. Mr. Joe W...
Category

1950s Performance Interior Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Pencil

Mural Study 1933 Depression Era Mid-Century WPA Modern American Scene Drawing
By Michael Loew
Located in New York, NY
Mural Study 1933 Depression Era Mid-Century WPA Modern American Scene Drawing. Study to Scale Mural Sketch for “Evolution of Textile Production” East. All,...
Category

1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Egg Tempera, Board

Mural Studies, Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco WPA American Modernism 1930s
By Frank Van Sloun
Located in New York, NY
Mural Studies, Palace of Fine Arts San Francisco WPA American Modernism 1930s. 9 x 12 inches. Tempera on paper, c. 1936. Authenticated and signed ...
Category

1930s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Egg Tempera

"Let's Make an Opera" Original Drawing NYT Published, Norman Del Mar Conducts
By Albert Al Hirschfeld
Located in New York, NY
"Let's Make an Opera" Original Drawing NYT Published, Norman Del Mar Conducts Al Hirschfeld (1903-2003) "Let's Make An Opera" Ink on board 13 1/2 x 18 1/2, sight Framed: 22 1/2 x 27...
Category

1950s Performance Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Board

"Concert" Early 20th Century WPA Modernism American City Landscape Scene Ashcan
By Michael Loew
Located in New York, NY
"Concert" Early 20th Century WPA Modernism American City Landscape Scene Ashcan The size of the canvas 28 3/4 x 43 1/4 inches. The painting comes directly from the artist's estate. It is signed lower right as well as signed, titled and dated verso. We have available more than two dozen paintings and works on paper from the 1930s - 80s that come directly from the Loew estate. BIO Michael Loew (1907 – 1985) was the son of a New York City baker. After high school, he was an apprentice to a stained-glass maker, and from 1926-1929, he studied at the Art Students League. In 1929, he traveled to Paris, North Africa, Germany, and Italy with a group of artists. When he returned to New York City in 1931, the Great Depression hit Loew unexpectedly, and for the next two years he paid his apartment rent with his paintings. In 1935, he found work with the WPA where he painted murals and partnered up with longtime friend Willem de Kooning in 1939 on a mural for the Hall of Pharmacy at the New York World’s Fair. Their friendship lasted for the rest of their lives. In the mid-30’s he painted in Mexico and the Yucatán documenting the construction of a U.S. Naval airbase on Tinian Island. It was from this airbase that the Enola...
Category

1920s American Modern Figurative Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Deco Dancing Hungarian Expressionism European Drawing Modernism Figurative Dance
By Hugó Scheiber
Located in New York, NY
Deco Dancing Hungarian Expressionism European Drawing Modernism Figurative Dance. 22 1/2 x 16 inches. Signed lower left. Framed. BIO Hugó Scheiber was born in Budapest in 1873. At the age of eight, he moved with his family from Budapest to Vienna. In 1898, to help support his family after they had returned to Budapest. He started working during the day, attending painting classes at the Commercial Art School in the evening. In 1900, he completed his studies. Scheiber showed an early interest in German Expressionism and Futurism. In 1915 he met Marinetti, who invited him to join the Futurist movement. Because Scheiber's paintings conflicted with academic style of the Hungarian art establishment, his work was virtually ignored in his own country. In 1919, he and his friend Béla Kádár held an exhibition organized by Hévesy in Vienna, which was a great success, so much so that the Budapest Art Museum purchased two of his drawings. In 1920, Scheiber returned to Vienna. A turning point in his career came in 1921 when Herwarth Walden, founder of Germany's leading avant-garde periodical, Der Sturm...
Category

1920s Art Deco Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Gouache

You May Also Like

Theatrical Scene - Pencil Drawing by Eugène Berman - Mid-20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Theatrical Scene is an original monogramm drawing in pencil, realized by Russian scenographer Eugène Berman, hand-signed. Image Dimension: 18.3 x 12.3 cm In very good conditions. ...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Theater Sketch 2
By Alexander Oscar Levy
Located in Buffalo, NY
Alexander O. Levy was a painter, illustrator, printmaker and designer who was born in 1881 in Bonn, Germany. He died in 1946 in Buffalo, New York. At age three, he was brought to ...
Category

1930s Art Deco Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Archival Paper, Charcoal, Gouache

Theatrical Scene - Drawing In Pencil by Eugène Berman - 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Theatrical Scene is an original monogrammed drawing in pencil, realized by Russian scenographer Eugène Berman,. Image Dimension: 24.5 x 35 cm Image Dimensions: 11 x 15 cm In very g...
Category

20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Untitled - Pencil Drawing by André MeauxSaint-Marc - 1920s
By André Meaux Saint-Marc
Located in Roma, IT
Untitled  is a drawing, realized in  1920s , by the French Artist  André Meaux-Saint-Marc (1885-1941)   Black and white pencil on paper. Hand Signed on back. The artist wants to de...
Category

1920s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Pencil

Sketches of Establishment - Original Drawing by Unknown - Mid 20th Century
Located in Roma, IT
Sketches of Establishment is an Original Pencil Drawing realized by an Unknown artist in mid-20th century. Good condition on a yellowed paper. No signature.
Category

Mid-20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil

Scenography - Pencil Drawing by Eugène Berman - 1950s
By Eugene Berman
Located in Roma, IT
Scenography is an original drawing in pencil on creamy paper, realized by Russian scenographer Eugène Berman in 1950s. Monogrammed at the bottom: E.B. In good conditions. The artw...
Category

1950s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pencil