Studio: international art (83.1922)

THE ART OF THE THEATRE

costumes. At about the same time Mr.
Granville Barker opened his American
season and gave the young artist his first
chance by adopting his designs for Anatole
France's ** The Man Who Married a
Dumb Wife." Here was his opportunity to
turn to good account the thorough training
which he had gained during his appren-
ticeship with Reinhardt, where he had
developed into an all-round worker in the
theatre, learning the rudiments of tailoring
and carpentering, scene painting, and elec-
tric installation—all those exacting de-
tails which may easily turn a loftily con-
ceived idea into lifeless scenery if not
governed by subtle instinct. Jones carried
the whole setting out with his own hands—
almost unaided—and proved that he was
more than a clever studio scene-designer—
the complete master, in fact, of the multi-

tudinous aspects of stage production, who
does not adhere to any particular phase of
presentation but uses every means to re-
present the spirit of the play, precisely as
he needs them. a 0 a a
A long chain of further successes fol-
lowed which gave testimony to his amazing
resourcefulness and power to make the
drama throb with life and create contact
with the audience. The poetic vision and
innate harmony of his settings for Maeter-
linck's “ Seven Princesses " and ** Pelleas
and Melisande " are even surpassed by the
soaring imagination and power to stir
which he displays in the ** Festival of the
Future." a 0 a 0 0

In most of his productions Jones makes
the fullest use of the emotional and dynamic
qualities of lighting. He creates the feeling
of the plastic by casting deep shadows

STAGE SETTING FOR " MACBETH ”
BY ROBERT EDMOND JONES
(Dorien Leigh Galleries)

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