Lee Simonson

Lee Simonson (right) with other directors of the Theatre Guild (1923)

Lee Simonson (June 26, 1888, New York City – January 23, 1967, Yonkers) was an American architect painter, stage setting designer.

He acted as a stage set designer for the Washington Square Players (1915–1917), when it became the Theatre Guild in 1919, also he became a stage setting staff of the theater.

Literary works

• “Skyscrapers for Art Museums” The American Mercury, August 1927, pages 399-404
• "Minor Prophecies" New York, Harcourt and Brace, 1927^[1]
• "The Stage Is Set", New York, Dover Publications, 1932^[2]
• (with Theodore Komisarjevsky): "Settings and Costumes of the Modern Stage" New York Studio Productions, 1933^[3]
• Isaacs, Edith J.R., editor: "Architecture for the New Theater" Lee Simonson: "Theater Planning" New York Theater Arts, 1935^[4]
• Part of a lifetime: Drawings and Designs 1919-1940, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York 1943^[5]
• The Art of Scenic Design; A Pictorial Analysis of Stage Setting and its relation to Theatrical Production, 1950^[6]

Exhibitions

• "Modern American Design in Metal" Newark Museum March 19 - April 18, 1929 included Simonson, Donald Deskey and William Zorach
• "International Exhibition of Theater Art", Museum of Modern Art, January 15- February 25, 1934, more than 700 drawings and models from 14 countries. After the MoMA venue, the exhibition traveled to Worcester, Providence, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago and Buffalo
• Harvard Contemporary Art Society 1932, exhibition included Simonson, Bel Geddes, Robert Jones, Monsine, Ornslegger

References

1. Lee Simonson (15 March 2010). Minor Prophecies. General Books. ISBN 978-0-217-25833-3. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
2. Lee Simonson (September 1975). The stage is set. Books for Libraries Press. ISBN 978-0-518-10206-9. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
3. Theodore Komisarjevsky; Lee Simonson (1966). Settings & costumes of the modern stage. B. Blom. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
4. Edith Juliet Rich Isaacs; Lee Simonson; Frederic Arden Pawley; William Lescaze, Valerian Stepanov, National Theatre Conference (1935). Architecture for the new theatre. Pub. for the National Theatre Conference, Theatre Arts, inc. Retrieved 23 November 2011. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
5. Lee Simonson (1943). Part of a lifetime: drawings and designs, 1919-1940. Duell, Sloan and Pearce. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
6. Lee Simonson (1950). The art of scenic design: pictorial analysis of stage setting and its relation to theatrical production. Harper. Retrieved 23 November 2011.

External links

• http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9067866
• Guide to Lee Simonson Papers at Houghton Library, Harvard University
• Works by or about Lee Simonson at Internet Archive
• Works by Lee Simonson at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)