Robert Edmond Jones (December 12, 1887 – November 26, 1954) was an American scenic,

lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylig ...

, and

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

. He is credited with incorporating the new stagecraft into the American drama. His designs sought to integrate scenic elements into the storytelling instead of having them stand separate and indifferent from the play's action. His visual style, often referred to as simplified realism, combined bold vivid use of color and simple, yet dramatic, lighting.

Life

Born in

Milton, New Hampshire Milton is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,482 at the 2020 census. A manufacturing, resort and residential town, Milton includes the village of Milton Mills. The primary village in town, where 593 peop ...

, Jones attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and graduated in 1910. Jones eventually moved to New York (1912), where, with friends made at Harvard, he began to do small design jobs. In 1913 Jones and several friends sailed to Europe to study the new stagecraft with

Edward Gordon Craig Edward Henry Gordon CraigSome sources give "Henry Edward Gordon Craig". (born Edward Godwin; 16 January 1872 – 29 July 1966), sometimes known as Gordon Craig, was an English modernist theatre practitioner; he worked as an actor, director a ...

in Florence. The school in Florence would not accept Jones, so he went to Berlin instead, spending a year in informal study with

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born theatre and film director, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he is regarded as one of the most pro ...

's Deutsches Theater. For a 1915 production of ''The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife'' directed by

Harley Granville-Barker Harley Granville-Barker (25 November 1877 – 31 August 1946) was an English actor, director, playwright, manager, critic, and theorist. After early success as an actor in the plays of George Bernard Shaw, he increasingly turned to directi ...

, Jones designed a fairly simple set that complemented the action and the other design elements of the production rather than overwhelming it. His innovative designs for

Vladimir Rosing Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing (russian: Владимир Серге́евич Розинг) (November 24, 1963), also known as Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in the United ...

American Opera Company The American Opera Company was the name of four different opera companies active in the United States. The first company was a short-lived opera company founded in New York City in February, 1886 that lasted only one season. The second company grew ...

in 1927 and 1928 were praised by critics. Jones also brought his expressionistic style to many productions put on by the

Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of th ...

, with innovative designs for '' The Philadelphia Story'' (1937), ''

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

'' (1943), and ''

The Iceman Cometh ''The Iceman Cometh'' is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 9, 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling, where it ran for 136 perf ...

'' (1946). Jones's biggest commercial success was with ''

The Green Pastures ''The Green Pastures'' is a play written in 1930 by Marc Connelly adapted from ''Ol' Man Adam an' His Chillun'' (1928), a collection of stories written by Roark Bradford. The play was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930. It had th ...

'' (1930), which, if we include its revival in 1951, played for a total of 1,642 performances. This revival was Jones's last production. Other Broadway credits include '' Holiday'' (1928), ''

Mourning Becomes Electra ''Mourning Becomes Electra'' is a play cycle written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931 where it ran for 150 performances before closing in March 1932, starring Lee Baker ...

'' (1931), ''

Ah, Wilderness! ''Ah, Wilderness!'' is a comedy by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on October 2, 1933. It differs from a typical O'Neill play in its happy ending for the central character, and depiction of a ...

'' (1933), '' Juno and the Paycock'' (1940), and ''

Lute Song The term lute song is given to a music style from the late 16th century to early 17th century, late Renaissance to early Baroque, that was predominantly in England and France. Lute songs were generally in strophic form or verse repeating with a h ...

'' (1946). Jones was also the production designer for some early three-color

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

films, such as ''

La Cucaracha La Cucaracha ("The Cockroach") is a popular Mexican folk song about a cockroach who cannot walk. The song's origins are unclear, but it dates back at least to the 1910s during the Mexican Revolution. The song belongs to the Mexican genre. The s ...

'' (1934) and ''

Becky Sharp Rebecca "Becky" Sharp, later describing herself as Rebecca, Lady Crawley, is the main protagonist of William Makepeace Thackeray's 1847–48 novel ''Vanity Fair''. She is presented as a cynical social climber who uses her charms to fascinate an ...

'' (1935), for which he also designed the costumes. One of the early members of the

Provincetown Players The Provincetown Players was a collective of artists, writers, intellectuals, and amateur theater enthusiasts. Under the leadership of the husband and wife team of George Cram “Jig” Cook and Susan Glaspell from Iowa, the Players produced two ...

, Jones worked closely with his friend

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of realism, earlier ...

on many of his productions including ''

Anna Christie ''Anna Christie'' is a play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill. It made its Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921. O'Neill received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this work. According to historian Paul Avrich, the ...

'', ''The Great God Brown'', and ''

Desire Under the Elms ''Desire Under the Elms'' is a 1924 play written by Eugene O'Neill. Like ''Mourning Becomes Electra'', ''Desire Under the Elms'' signifies an attempt by O'Neill to adapt plot elements and themes of Greek tragedy to a rural New England setting. ...

''. Jones published many articles on theatre design in the course of his career. His books include ''Drawings for the Theatre'' (1925), and '' The Dramatic Imagination'' (1941); he also illustrated Kenneth Macgowan's ''Continental Stagecraft'' (1922). His book '' The Dramatic Imagination'' is considered the definitive work on modern stage design in the first half of the 20th century. He died in the house he was born in on Thanksgiving Day, 1954.

References

External links

* *
Robert Edmond Jones designs and originals, 1913-1943
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

Robert Edmond Jones correspondence, 1930-1941
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

Costume and Scenic Design Collection
at the

Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Robert Edmond Harvard University alumni American scenic designers Broadway set designers American costume designers American lighting designers 1887 births 1954 deaths People from Milton, New Hampshire Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters