Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980

Boris Aronson was born in Kiev in 1900, the son of a Jewish rabbi. He came of age in pre-revolutionary Russia in the city that was at the center of Jewish avant-garde theater. After attending art school in Kiev, Aronson served an apprenticeship with the Constructivist designer Alexandre Exter. Under Exter's tutelage and under the influence of the Russian theater directors Alexander Tairov and Vsevolod Meyerhold, whom Aronson admired, he rejected the fashionable realism of Stanislavski in favor of stylized reality and Constructivism. After his apprenticeship he moved to Moscow and then to Germany, where he published two books in 1922, and on their strength was able to obtain a visa to America. In New York he found work in the Yiddish experimental theater designing sets and costumes for, among other venues, the Unser Theatre and the Yiddish Art Theatre.

Aronson's first major success was The Tenth Commandment, directed by Maurice Schwartz at the Yiddish Art Theatre in 1926. His reputation was further improved by an exhibition of his set models in New York in 1927 and by the 1928 publication of a book about Aronson by the art critic Waldemar George. Aronson quit the Yiddish theater to avoid the ghettoization of his work and began doing Broadway productions in 1932. Between 1935 and 1939 he did several productions for the Group Theatre, among them two Clifford Odets plays and Irwin Shaw's The Gentle People, the latter considered a breakthrough for Aronson. In the 1930s and early 1940s Aronson experimented with projected scenery and did his first settings for a ballet and a musical.

Despite Aronson's critical successes in the 1930s, his career was in limbo for much of the 1940s and 1950s. In a Broadway which favored tactful sets over dramatic designs, other designers were getting many of the better productions. Aronson was forced to temper his abstract, Constructivist inclinations and produce naturalistic sets, but he continued to make important contacts. In 1953 he created sets for The Crucible, the first of six Arthur Miller works that he would design. He worked frequently with the directors Harold Clurman and Garson Kanin and was praised for his sets for the long-running The Diary of Anne Frank (1955). He became proficient in using collages, and some of his work anticipated the epic style that he employed to great effect in the concept musicals of the 1960s and 1970s.

Aronson's career upswing began with Fiddler on the Roof (1964). His first commercial success, the play marked the beginning of Aronson's fruitful association with the producer-director Harold Prince. After creating sets for two productions at the Metropolitan Opera, Aronson collaborated with Prince on Company (1970). The show featured Aronson's most Constructivist sets to date and established Stephen Sondheim as a composer. Three more Price/Sondheim/Aronson shows in the 1970s ( Follies, A Little Night Music, and Pacific Overtures) solidified Aronson's reputation as one of Broadway's most respected artists. His last set design was in 1976 for The Nutcracker, choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov. Aronson won eight Tony Awards and maintained an active career as a sculptor and painter until his death in 1980.

The Boris Aronson Scenic Design Papers were donated to the Ransom Center by Lisa Aronson in 1996. One rendering for Love among the Ruins was a purchase.

Kiev-born Boris Solomon Aronson was a prominent twentieth century scenic designer, perhaps best known for his work on Broadway from the 1950s through the mid-1970s.

In a career ranging several decades, Aronson won eight Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards for Best Scenic Design. He came of age during the Russian Revolution, studying art and design at the School of Modern Painting in Moscow. Continuing his education in Paris and Berlin, he wrote a book about his friend, the artist Marc Chagall. In 1923 Aronson emigrated to the United States and began designing sets for New York's Jewish theaters, first with the experimental Unser Theater and later with the Yiddish Art Theater. It was during these years that Aronson developed his theories on stage design: the set should permit varied movement; each scene should contain the mood of the whole play; and that the setting should be beautiful in its own right. Aronson soon found work in the English-speaking theater and began an affiliation with the Group Theater during the 1930s, working on 11 productions with director Harold Clurman, including Awake and Sing! (1935). In 1943 Lisa Jalowetz, whom Aronson would later marry, became his professional assistant; she continued to assist him throughout his career. The 1950s brought greater recognition of Aronson's talents. Working mainly on dramas during that decade, he received the Tony Award for Best Design for the 1951-1952 Broadway season for both Season in the Sun (1950) and The Country Girl (1950); he would receive another Tony the following year for The Rose Tattoo (1951). The 1960s brought him widespread acclaim as a designer for musical theater. His notable collaborations with director Harold Prince, included Fiddler on the Roof (1964), Cabaret (1966), Zorba (1968), Company (1970), Follies (1971), and Pacific Overtures (1976). Aronson also worked on ballet designs throughout his career; his final designs were for Baryshnikov's The Nutcracker (1976). Aronson also worked on some costume designs, as well as on paintings and sculpture; his work was the subject of several exhibitions, especially during the later years of his life.

Boris Solomon Aronson was a scenic designer, occasional costume designer, painter and sculptor. He was born around 1900 in Kiev (currently the independent Ukraine), the son of a rabbi, and came of age during the Russian Revolution. He studied art and design at the School of Modern Painting in Moscow, as well as studying with the avant-garde painter and stage designer Alexandra Exter . He continued his education in Paris and Berlin, and in 1923 wrote a book about his friend, the artist Marc Chagall . (Chagall's cubist-fantastic paintings based on Aleichem's stories would later inspire Aronson's sets for Fiddler on the Roof .) In 1923 he emigrated to the United States and began designing sets for New York's Jewish theaters, first with the experimental Unser Theater and later with the Yiddish Art Theater. These early designs clearly showed Aronson's rejection of naturalism in design. A good example of this is Aronson's depiction of Hell as the human mind in The Tenth Commandment (1926). It was during these years that Aronson developed his theories on stage design: the set should permit varied movement; each scene should contain the mood of the whole play; and that the setting should be beautiful in its own right.

Aronson's first foray into English-speaking theater was the 1927 production, 2 x 2 = 5 . As the Great Depression progressed he worked diversely, designing productions for Radio City Music Hall, on Broadway, and joining the Group Theater. The Group Theater was founded in 1931 by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg and was based on the principles of ensemble acting, first seen in the Moscow Art Theater. Aronson and Clurman (who once called Aronson a “master visual artist of the stage”) would eventually work together on 11 productions, including the Group Theater's Awake and Sing! (1935), Paradise Lost (1935), and The Gentle People (1939). Aronson's notable productions of the 1930s include Walk A Little Faster (1932, starring Bea Lillie ) which featured innovative use of curtains, for example, one was shaped like an iris lens.

During the 1940s Aronson continued to innovate by using colored slides to create projected scenery. In 1947 the Museum of Modern Art exhibited these stage designs in the show Painting with Light (a phrase coined by Aronson to describe these collage like works). He used this technique for one of his first ballets, The Great American Goof (1940). Aronson would continue to design for ballets throughout his career. In 1943 Lisa Jalowetz became his professional assistant and two years later they would marry. She continued to assist him throughout his career.

1950-1951 brought greater recognition of Aronson's talents. That year he received the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards for Best Design for Season in the Sun (1950), The Country Girl (1950), and T he Rose Tattoo (1951). Other notable productions during the 1950s include I Am a Camera (1951, based on Christopher Isherwood's book that would later inspire the musical Cabaret ), The Crucible (1953), The Diary of Anne Frank (1955), and Bus Stop (1955).

If the 1950s was the decade of Aronson's association with earnest dramas, the 1960s brought him widespread acclaim as a designer for musical theater. His collaborations with Harold Prince, beginning with Fiddler on the Roof in 1964, progressing to Cabaret (1966, renowned for his use of a lightweight mylar mirror that reflected the audience back to themselves) and Zorba (1968) were resounding successes. Prince and Aronson continued to work together in the 1970s on Company (1970), Follies (1971), Great God Brown (1973) and Pacific Overtures (1976). The designs for Pacific Overtures, in particular, brought together Aronson's love of innovation through his use of color copies in the design process, and his lifelong fascination with traditional art forms like Japanese printing.

Aronson's final designs were for Baryshnikov's The Nutcracker (1976). By his death in 1980 Aronson had won eight Antoinette Perry (Tony) awards for Best Scenic Design. His designs were exhibited at the Library for the Performing Arts in 1981, as well as being exhibited at the Katonah Gallery in conjunction with The New York Times critic Frank Rich 's book The Theatre Arts of Boris Aronson .