Donald Oenslager, the great American set designer and a professor at the Yale School of Drama, wrote that “a sketch for a scene is as short-lived as the life of the theater it supports.”
Mr. Oenslager, who died in 1975, was being a bit disingenuous, as he was a major collector of such sketches. In 1982 his widow gave some 1,600 drawings, prints and books on set design to the Morgan Library and Museum. About 50 of these drawings, including two by Mr. Oenslager, are on view there in “Creating the Modern Stage: Designs for Theater and opera.” They present a concise summary of 20th-century stagecraft, one that appeals equally to Museum of Modern Art mavens and seasoned theatergoers.
link: Where All the World’s an Atmospheric Stage By KAREN ROSENBERG, The New York Times
