Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1986 - 18

BOOK REVI EWS

Contemporary Designers

edited by
Ann Lee Morgan and assistant edited by
Colin Naylor. Detroit: Gale Research Company and London: Macmillan Publishers,
1984. ISBN 0-333-33524-4, ix + 658 pp.,
ill., $95.00 cloth.

Contemporary Designers is the fourth
volume in the "Contemporary Artists
Series" being jointly published by Macmillan in Great Britain and Gale Research
Company in the United Slates. Termed "international" in scope, the designers treated
in this volume come from the fields of
graphics, industrial and product design,
fashion, textile, and interior design. In addition, there are designers for theatre and
film.
The typical entry for each designer is
organized in clear sections. Using the one
for Donald Oenslager for example, there is
first an extensive professional biography,
followed by lists of exhibitions and museum
collections where Oenslager's work may be
found. There is also a list of more than 200
theatrical designs with date of production,
followed by a brief summary of Oenslager's
work and its significance. At the end of the
entry, there is a bibliography which includes
publications written by and· about Oenslager. Finally for many of the entries, Oenslager's included, there is a photograph of
one piece of work, such as a costume sketch,
a setting, or a production photograph.
In cases where the designer is still living
there is frequently a short autobiographical
statement on his or her work. Most of the
entries are accompanied by a signed critical
essay and in the case of Oenslager this was
prepared by Douglas Russell and is an important synthesis. Other contributions in
this book were prepared by Arnold Aronson, Jarka Burian, Tom Mikotowicz, Ronald Olson, Richard Riddell, and David
Weiss to name some of the participating
USITT members.
Since the arrangement is alphabetical by
designer's name and without segregation by
field, one can move from graphics, to furniture, to costume design, and to fashion.
Looking for information on anyone designer inevitably leads to the adjacent essay
on a designer in a totally different field, or
perhaps the adjacent graphic or pictorial is
what draws the attention. This is a volume
that cannot be dealt with casually. The
reader will spend many hours, perhaps unplanned hours, going from one design field
10 another. In dealing with these diverse
16

Theatre Design & Technology /

fields the book offers an interesting dynamic that cannot help but broaden its
reader's tastes.
Slightly more than 100 of the approximately 600 designers selected are from the
theatrical and film professions. Making the
choices for the designers to be included
must have been difficult indeed. If one considers Norman Bel Geddes' 'contemporary,"
in the sense that editor Ann Lee Morgan
does ("their work continues to be a vital influence on design today"), how can one
leave out Robert Edmond Jones or Lee
Simonson? Are Lemuel Ayres and Ralph
Alswang to be so soon forgotten? Shouldn't
the reader be able to refer to the late Sean
Kenny, the "infant terrible" of British
design?
While there are many contributions on
Japanese designers in other fields, one will
look in vain for the world class Setsu Asukura or Kaoru Kanomori in scenography.
There are Russians who have emigrated,
but where are Mart Kitalev and Edward
Kochergin to name just two international
class designers who practice in the Soviet
Union. What has happened to the Israelis,
and most of the Italians, and the West German designers (although most of the East
Germans are there), and where are Acquart
and Raffaelli of France and the Spanish
speaking scenographers of Latin America.
Also missing are the avant-garde and environmentalist designers such as Robert
Wilson, Jerry Rojo, Alwin
ikolais and
their counterparts like Pina Bausch of West
Germany, Luca Ronconi of Italy, or Ciulei
of Romania. Eugene Lee is pretty much
alone to represent them all.
For lighting designers we have Jean
Rosenthal but not Abe Feder or Peggy
Clark, we have Jules Fisher and Tharon
Musser but not David Hersey or Richard
Pilbrow, and we have some floor and table
lamps, but interior and architectural lighting design is simply not present. Thus
Douglas Leigh and Abe Feder, who share
the task of lighting city skylines, will have to
wait for another edition. A host of other
fine practicing interior lighting designers
will have to wait as well, along with their
theatrical and television counterparts.
These are important lapses that mar an
otherwise excellent book. While one can
argue the inclusion of specific designers, it
is critical to lose a mainstream of design that
has revolutionized more conventional theatrical forms. The list of lapses, lacuna, and
recriminations, however, mUSl draw to an

SITT / Winter 1986

end because, in fact, Contemporary Design
ers is of uniformly high quality, is well re

searched, handsome, and is going to b(
quite indispensable. It not only brings to
get her a huge mass of research available no
where else, but is fascinating reading. Con
lemporary Designers makes a high contri
bution to resolving the limited publicatior
space available for scenography by includ
ing so many theatrical set and costume de·
signers. This book is not only a standare
reference, but a gratifying and entertainin~
one as well.
C

Joel E. Rubin
Joel E. Rubin &
ew York City

Associate~

Light: Effective Use of Daylighl
and Electric Lighting in Residential
and Commercial Spaces by Jane

Grosslight. Englewood Cli ffs, ew Jersey
Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1984. ISB 0-13·
536292-X, vii + 199 pp., ill., $14.95 paper.

Jane Grosslight has assembled a highl)
readable and valuable architecturallightin~
handbook. Containing a vast collection 01
ideas for lighting and relighting spaces in <'
well organized, illustrated, and indexed for·
mat, it is a primer "intended for those whe
want to install the lighting themselves or
hire someone to do it." The preface state~
that "anyone who designs lighting-archi·
tects, lighting consultants, manufacturer'~
reps, interior designers, electrical engineers,
lighting showroom staff members, land·
scape architects, contractors, or electrician~
-can use this book."
The book includes, among other usefu
information, some excellent ideas for
mocking up lighting effects prior to com·
mitring one's self to a completed installa·
tion. It also contains some useful "Rules 01
Thumb" for size, placement and mountin~
heights of lighting fixtures. For example,
a chandelier hung over a table "should b(
twelve inches (3Icm) smaller in diameter
than the smallest table dimension." Also
there is some excellent advice about definin~
tasks and describing the desired end result
Detailed construction information is in·
cluded in many sections, for the sake 01
those readers who may actually wish te
build some of their own fixtures.
Grosslight clearly covers the di fference~
in approaches which must be taken by rent·
ers rather than by owners who are free te
make structural changes in their homes or

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1986