Oenslager, Donald, 1902-1975

Donald Mitchell Oenslager was born on March 7, 1902, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Following graduation from Harvard University in 1923, he was an instructor in scenic design at Middlebury College, Vermont. In 1925, his former Harvard instructor, George Pierce Baker, appointed him to the faculty of the Department of Drama of the Yale School of Fine Arts. Oenslager taught design at Yale until his retirement in 1970. While at Yale, he designed sets for over 250 plays, operas, ballets, and musicals in New Haven, New York, and Europe. Oenslager served as a consultant on theater architecture and design and authored several books on the subject. He was a member of the Art Commission of the City of New York, the board of directors of the American Foundation of the Arts, and the Museum of the City of NewYork. Oenslager died on June 21, 1975, in Bedford, New York.

From the description of Donald Oenslager papers, 1925-1974 (inclusive). (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702169933

From the guide to the Donald Oenslager papers, 1925-1974, (Manuscripts and Archives)

Donald Mitchell Oenslager, an American stage designer and professor, was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 7 March 1902. Oenslager began his career in the theater as an actor, working at the Greenwich Village Theatre and the Provincetown Playhouse during the early 1920s. He became interested in theater design after studying in Europe and his first project as a designer was in 1925 for a ballet, Sooner or Later. Oenslager was active as a designer from the 1930's to the 1960s, working on many notable Broadway productions, including Of Mice and Men (1937) and A Majority of One (1959), for which he received a Tony Award. He also served as a faculty member of the Yale School of Drama, teaching design from 1925 until his death in 1975, publishing many works, including Scenery Then and Now (1936) and Notes on Scene Painting (1952). Profoundly influenced by the European stage designers, Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia, Oenslager brought a new emphasis on symbolism over realism to American theater design. Throughout his life, Oenslager built up an extensive collection of materials on both Craig and Appia. Following his death on 11 June 1975, Oenslager's widow, Mary, gave portions of the Craig material to the New York Public Library's Billy Rose Theatre Division, while other parts of the collection went to Yale University.

From the guide to the Donald Oenslager papers and designs, 1922-1982, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)

Oenslager was an American set designer.

From the description of Set designs, 1934-1967. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80633889

From the guide to the Set designs, 1934-1967., (Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)

Donald Oenslager, costume designer.

From the description of Costume designs for Life with mother, 1953. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122517183

Donald Mitchell Oenslager (1902-1975), an American stage designer and professor, was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 7 March 1902.

Oenslager began his career in the theater as an actor, working at the Greenwich Village Theatre and the Provincetown Playhouse during the early 1920s. He became interested in theater design after studying in Europe and his first project as a designer was in 1925 for a ballet, Sooner or Later. Oenslager was active as a designer through the 1960s, working on many notable Broadway productions, including Of Mice and Men (1937) and A Majority of One (1959), for which he received a Tony Award. He also served as a faculty member of the Yale School of Drama, teaching design from 1925 until his death in 1975 and publishing many works, including, Scenery Then and Now (1936) and Notes on Scene Painting (1952). Profoundly influenced by the European stage designers, Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia, Oenslager brought a new emphasis on symbolism over realism to American theater design. Throughout his life, Oenslager built up an extensive collection of materials on both Craig and Appia. Following his death, Oenslager's widow, Mary, gave portions of the Craig material to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Billy Rose Theatre Collection, while other parts of the collection went to Yale University.

Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966), the object of Oenslager's collecting efforts and study, was an actor, artist, theater designer and director. Craig was the second of two children produced from the liaison between the actress Ellen Terry and the architect Edward William Godwin. Exposed to the theater from an early age, Craig had a promising start as an actor, but turned, almost by chance, to a career as a graphic artist and stage designer. Craig first learned various techniques of printmaking around 1893 and he developed an enthusiasm for wood engraving in particular. By the end of 1899 he had engraved nearly 200 blocks, started his own magazine and published a book. His interest in stage design developed almost in tandem with his work as a graphic artist. His 1900 production of Dido and Aeneas was groundbreaking in its approach to stage design. The limitations of the space (the Hampstead Conservatoire) enabled Craig to depart from the elaborate, realist traditions of Victorian stagecraft.

Craig's innovations in lighting and design were admired by critics and radical artists, but often proved impractical to mount in the conservative climate of the English commercial theater. In 1904, Craig moved to Berlin for greater opportunities and it was in Germany that he met the American dancer, Isadora Duncan. Although their affair was relatively brief in duration, Duncan was to be a major influence on Craig. The two shared a belief in a theater in which all of the arts were united. It was his association with Duncan that earned Craig an invitation from Konstantin Stanislavsky to design an influential production of Hamlet for the Moscow Art Theatre in 1912. Following that success, Craig opened his own School for the Art of the Theatre in Florence. Craig continued to live in Italy following the war, but he began to shift away from practice into theory, focusing more of his attention on his writings and wood engravings. By the late 1920s, Craig had executed what would be his final stage designs. Among his wood engravings, Craig's work on the 1929 edition of Hamlet for the Cranach Press is often viewed as one of his greatest accomplishments. Following the end of World War II, Craig settled in the small town of Vence in the south of France, where he completed an autobiography, Index to the Story of My Days (1957), and was visited frequently by his admirers until the time of his death in 1966.

From the description of Donald Oenslager collection of Edward Gordon Craig, 1898-1967. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 79409395

Edward Gordon Craig, British actor, artist, theater designer, director and producer responsible for major innovations in the theater during the early part of the 20th century.

Donald Oenslager, theater designer and educator.

From the description of Donald Oenslager collection of Edward Gordon Craig, 1881-1975. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 83632133

Donald Oenslager, theater designer and educator.

Edward Gordon Craig, British actor, artist, theater designer, director and producer responsible for major innovations in the theater during the early part of the 20th century.

From the description of Donald Oenslager collection of Edward Gordon Craig, 1881-1975. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702161167

Donald Mitchell Oenslager, an American stage designer and professor was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 7 Martch 1902.

Oenslager began his career in the theater as an actor, working at the Greenwich Village Theatre and the Provincetown Playhouse during the early 1920s. He became interested in theater design after studying in Europe and his first project as a designer was in 1925 for a ballet, Sooner or Later. Oenslager was active as a designer from the 1930s to the 1960s, working on many notable Broadway productions, including Of Mice and Men (1937) and A Majority of One (1959), for which he received a Tony Award. He also served as a faculty member of the Yale School of Drama, teaching design from 1925 until his death in 1975. Oenslager published many works, including Scenery Then and Now (1936) and Notes on Scene Painting (1952). Profoundly influenced by the European stage designers, Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia, Oenslager brought a new emphasis on symbolism over realism to American theater design. Throughout his life, Oenslager built up an extensive collection of materials on both Craig and Appia. Following his death on 11 June 1975, Oenslager's widow, Mary, gave portions of the Craig material to the New York Public Library's Billy Rose Theatre Division, while other parts of the collection went to Yale University.

From the description of Donald Oenslager papers and designs, 1922-1982. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 84614057

Donald Mitchell Oenslager, an American stage designer and professor, was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 7 March 1902. Oenslager began his career in the theater as an actor, working at the Greenwich Village Theatre and the Provincetown Playhouse during the early 1920s. He became interested in theater design after studying in Europe and his first project as a designer was in 1925 for a ballet, Sooner or Later . Oenslager was active as a designer through the 1960s, working on many notable Broadway productions, including Of Mice and Men (1937) and A Majority of One (1959), for which he received a Tony Award. He also served as a faculty member of the Yale School of Drama, teaching design from 1925 until his death in 1975 and publishing many works, including, Scenery Then and Now (1936) and Notes on Scene Painting (1952). Profoundly influenced by the European stage designers, Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia, Oenslager brought a new emphasis on symbolism over realism to American theater design. Throughout his life, Oenslager built up an extensive collection of materials on both Craig and Appia. Following his death on 11 June 1975, Oenslager’s widow, Mary, gave portions of the Craig material to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Billy Rose Theatre Division, while other parts of the collection went to Yale University.

Edward Gordon Craig, the object of Oenslager's collecting efforts and study, was an actor, artist, theater designer and director. Craig was born in Stevenage, England on 16 January 1872, the second of two children produced from the liaison between the actress Ellen Terry and the architect Edward William Godwin. He was baptized Edward Henry Gordon at the age of sixteen (taking the names of his godparents, Henry Irving and Lady Gordon) and added the surname Craig at the age of twenty-one. Exposed to the theater from an early age, Craig had made his stage debut by the age of six. After completing his studies in 1889, Craig became a member of Henry Irving's company at the Lyceum Theatre.

Although Craig received strong critical praise for his acting, he soon retreated from this promising career. In 1893, Craig married May Gibson, an actress, and moved from London to Uxbridge, where he met the artists James Ferrier Pryde and William Nicholson. From them he learned various techniques of printmaking and developed an enthusiasm for wood engraving in particular. His new interest in graphic design was soon coupled with the chance to direct a production of Alfred de Musset's On ne badine pas avec l'amour (1893), for which he also created the designs. In 1898, Craig started a magazine, The Page, which was filled almost entirely with his own work. By the end of 1899 he had engraved nearly 200 blocks and published a book, Gordon Craig's Book of Penny Toys .

During this period, Craig continued to develop as a stage designer and director. He worked with the musician, Martin Shaw, on a production of Dido and Aeneas in 1900 that was groundbreaking in its approach to stage design. The limitations of the space (the Hampstead Conservatoire) enabled Craig to depart from the elaborate, realist traditions of Victorian stagecraft. Craig’s innovations in lighting and design were admired by critics and radical artists, but often proved impractical to mount in the conservative climate of the English commercial theater. In 1904, Craig moved to Berlin for greater opportunities and designed a production of Venice Preserv’d for the Lessing Theatre in 1905. In that same year he produced a significant essay, The Art of the Theatre, which he later reworked as On the Art of the Theatre (1911). Perhaps most importantly, it was in Germany that he met the American dancer, Isadora Duncan. Although their affair was relatively brief in duration, Duncan was to be a major influence on Craig. The two shared a belief in a theater in which all of the arts were united. They collaborated on a book and had two children during the short time that they were together, but the affair was over by 1907 and Craig moved to Florence with his former lover, Elena Fortuna Meo, and established his own theatrical publication, The Mask (1908-1929). It was his association with Duncan, however, that earned Craig an invitation from Konstantin Stanislavsky to design a production of Hamlet for the Moscow Art Theatre in 1912. Following that success, Craig returned to Florence and opened his own School for the Art of the Theatre at the Arena Goldoni, which operated until the outbreak of the First World War.

Craig continued to live in Italy following the war, having moved to Rapallo with Elena Meo and their children in 1917, but he began to shift away from practice into theory, focusing more of his attention on his writings and wood engravings. By the late 1920s, Craig had executed what would be his final stage designs, a Danish production of Ibsen’s The Pretenders (1926) and a New York production of Macbeth (1928). He left Elena Meo again in the early 1930s and moved to France with his secretary, Daphne Woodward, and their child. Among his wood engravings, Craig’s work on the 1929 edition of Hamlet for the Cranach Press is often viewed as one of his greatest accomplishments. Following the end of World War II, Craig settled in the small town of Vence in the south of France, where he completed an autobiography, Index to the Story of My Days (1957) and was visited frequently by his admirers. Craig died in Vence on 29 August 1966.

Sources

From the guide to the Donald Oenslager collection of Edward Gordon Craig, 1898-1967, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)

Edward Gordon Craig was born in England on 16 January 1872, the son of the actress Ellen Terry and the architect E. W. (Edward William) Godwin. In 1878, at the age of six, he made his first stage appearance in a production of Olivia, by W. G. Wills. He studied at Southfield Park and Bradfield College, and was a member of Henry Irving's theater company at the Lyceum Theatre in London beginning in 1889.

In 1893, Craig married May Gibson, and moved from London to Uxbridge. Under the influence of the artists James Ferrier Pryde and William Nicholson, he learned the art of wood-engraving, and began his career as a graphic designer. In 1893 he directed and designed his first stage production: Alfred de Musset's On ne badine pas avec l'amour . Around this time he also published a magazine, The Page, consisting mostly of his own engravings, and in 1899 published a book of woodcuts with accompanying verses entitled Gordon Craig's Book of Penny Toys .

Craig's career as a stage designer continued to evolve as he collaborated with Martin Shaw in 1901 and 1902 productions of Dido and Aeneas, The Mask of Love and other plays. In 1904 Craig traveled to Berlin to work with the Lessing Theatre, and in 1905 he published his most famous essay, The Art of the Theatre, which was later expanded and republished as On the Art of the Theatre . In Germany he met the dancer Isadora Duncan, with whom he had a brief but intense affair, ending in 1906. Duncan persuaded the theater producer Konstantin Stanislavsky to invite Craig to Moscow, and there he designed an important 1912 production of Hamlet . In 1913, Craig fulfilled a longtime dream by founding his School for the Art of the Theatre in the Arena Goldoni in Florence, however, it closed shortly thereafter at the outbreak of World War I.

Over his long career Craig became known as an important innovator in theater design, popularizing a modern, minimalist style in contrast to the more extravagant style of his mother's age, and his writings, artwork and design had an enormous impact on twentieth-century theater. His publications include the theatrical periodical The Mask (1908-1929), and the books Books and Theatres (1925), Ellen Terry and Her Secret Self (1931), Nothing, or, the Bookplate (1924), The Theatre - Advancing (1919) and his autobiography, Index to the Story of My Days (1957). He spent the last years of his life in the south of France, and died there in 1966.

Donald Mitchell Oenslager was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 7 March 1902. After graduating from Harvard in 1923, he spent several years working as an actor, appearing in a 1924 production of Desire Under the Elms at the Greenwich Village Theatre, and working at the Provincetown Playhouse. His first stage design was for a ballet titled Sooner or Later in 1925, and he soon began a prolific career in theater design that spanned the 1920's through the 1960's.

Oenslager wrote and edited several books on theater design, including Scenery Then and Now in 1936 and Notes on Scene Painting in 1952, and served as a member of the U.S. National Commission for Unesco and many local and national theater and arts organizations. He also served in the U.S. Air Force from 1942-1945, and from 1925 on he was a member of the faculty of the Yale School of Drama. He cited Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig as the inspirations for his work in theater design, and maintained collections of material related to the two designers, both of which are held by the Beinecke Library at Yale.

From the guide to the Donald Oenslager collection of Edward Gordon Craig, 1881-1975, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)