Английская Википедия:Cleon Throckmorton

Материал из Онлайн справочника
Перейти к навигацииПерейти к поиску

Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Infobox person Cleon Francis "Throck" Throckmorton (October 8, 1897 – October 23, 1965) was an American painter, theatrical designer, producer, and architect.Шаблон:Sfnm During the early 1920s, Throckmorton resided in Washington, D.C., where he created sets for stage productions by Howard University, a historically black college.Шаблон:Sfn

While associated with Howard University, he operated the Krazy Kat speakeasy in Washington, D.C., a gathering place for artists and intellectuals.Шаблон:Sfnm After noticing Throckmorton's set design work for Ridgely Torrence's Simon the Cyrenian at Howard University, producer George Cram Cook recruited Throckmorton to create the sets for the Provincetown Players' upcoming production of playwright Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones.Шаблон:Sfn

Following the success of The Emperor Jones, Throckmorton became one of the most prolific set designers of the Jazz Age. His set designs were featured in over six hundred productions.Шаблон:Sfnm During the heyday of his career, it was said that the only person whose name appeared on more playbills than Throckmorton's was the fire commissioner.Шаблон:Sfn He was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2002.Шаблон:Sfn

Life

Early life and education

Файл:Cleon Throckmorton NBS NIST 1918.jpg
Throckmorton circa 1918

Born in Absecon, just outside Atlantic City, New Jersey, Throckmorton's parents Ernest Upton Throckmorton and Roberta Cowing Throckmorton had moved to Washington, D.C. by 1912 where Ernest ran a cigar store.Шаблон:Sfnm His mother was an artist employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Шаблон:Sfn Throckmorton's early years were spent in Atlantic City and Washington, D.C.Шаблон:Sfn He purportedly was deeply influenced by the gothic atmosphere of the American South which he drew upon in later years when he designed sets for All God's Chillun Got Wings (1924) and Porgy (1928).Шаблон:Sfnm

As a young man, Throckmorton studied engineering at the Carnegie Institute of Technology from 1917–18 and George Washington University from 1918–19.Шаблон:Sfn As a student, he worked as a lab assistant at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.Шаблон:Sfn He developed an interest in painting, and studied painting with portraitist Charles Webster Hawthorne and Alexis Many.Шаблон:Sfnm According to Throckmorton, his career began as a bet made with other artists in Washington, D.C. The artists claimed he could not succeed both in engineering and painting.Шаблон:Sfn Within a year, Throckmorton won the bet by graduating with an engineering degree and had an exposition of his paintings at the Biennial Exposition of Contemporary Artists.Шаблон:Sfn Attempting to reconcile his passion for painting with his love of engineering, he gradually became aware of "the perfect marriage of the two professions—set designing."Шаблон:Sfn

Early efforts and speakeasy owner

Шаблон:CSS image crop After obtaining an engineering degree and following an exhibition of his paintings, Throckmorton began advertising himself as a specialist "in difficult tasks for the theater that require the combination of the artist and the engineer."Шаблон:Sfn Soon after, he became a frequent collaborator and associate with the African-American drama department at Howard University, a federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. He taught classes, produced plays, and designed sets at Howard University circa 1920–22.Шаблон:Sfn

While associated with Howard University, Throckmorton operated the Krazy Kat Klub, a raucous nightclub and speakeasy situated at No. 3 Green Court near Washington, D.C.'s Thomas Circle.Шаблон:Sfnm As a pre-Raphaelite impressionist, Throckmorton believed that artists should pursue their vocation day and night by surrounding themselves with appropriate settings that inspired creativity, and the venue fulfilled that purpose.Шаблон:Sfn Due to its courtyard and tree-house, the establishment became as an idyllic haunt for artists, bohemians, flappers, and other free-wheeling "young moderns" during the Jazz Age.Шаблон:Sfn A frequent club habitué was Katherine "Kat" Mullen, a model and sketch artist known for her radio performances as a singer and ukulele player with the Crandall Saturday Nighters.Шаблон:Sfnm Throckmorton and Mullen were married during this period.Шаблон:Sfnm

While operating the Krazy Kat Klub speakeasy in Washington, D.C., Throckmorton became acquainted with theater producer George Cram Cook, a key figure in the experimental theater collective known as the Provincetown Players located in Provincetown, Massachusetts.Шаблон:Sfn Cook had been impressed by Throckmorton's avant-garde work on Ridgely Torrence's Simon the Cyrenian at Howard University,Шаблон:Sfn and he offered Throckmorton the opportunity to design the sets for the upcoming first production of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones (1920).Шаблон:Sfn Throckmorton completed the sketches and sets in only three days, and the play opened to rave reviews on November 1, 1920.Шаблон:Sfn

Meteoric success and cultural zenith

Шаблон:Multiple image Due to the ecstatic critical reception of Throckmorton's set work for The Emperor Jones, Throckmorton went on to work on stage design or set design for over six hundred productions during the next decade.Шаблон:Sfnm His many works included The Hairy Ape (1922), In Abraham's Bosom (1926; Pulitzer Prize, 1927), Porgy (1928), the American premiere of The Threepenny Opera (1933), Sidney Howard's Alien Corn (1933), the 1935 American premiere of Federico García Lorca's Blood Wedding (retitled as The Bitter Oleanders), and a 1942 production of Nathan the Wise.Шаблон:Sfnm During this heyday of Throckmorton's career, it was said that the only person whose name appeared on more playbills than Throckmorton's was the fire commissioner.Шаблон:Sfn Many notable artists and stage designers worked with Throckmorton at the Provincetown Players, including Mordecai Gorelik,Шаблон:Sfn Alexander Calder,Шаблон:Sfn and Robert Edmond Jones.

By 1928, following his divorce from his first wife Katherine Mullen and his second marriage to screen actress Juliet Brenon,Шаблон:Sfn Throckmorton had relocated to Hoboken, New Jersey, where he and his intimate friend, writer Christopher Morley, co-founded the Hoboken Theatrical Company.Шаблон:Sfnm They produced at the Old Rialto Theatre a series of successful revivals of old-time melodramas from the gaslight era,Шаблон:Sfn "complete with peanuts—hisses for the villain and cheers for the heroes."Шаблон:Sfn

The efforts of Throckmorton and Morley led to a brief cultural flowering in the city.Шаблон:Sfn They concurrently produced an assortment of experimental crafts including an illustrated map of Hoboken,Шаблон:Sfn Hoboken passports,Шаблон:Sfn and a book, "Born in a Beer Garden, or She Troupes to Conquer" (1930), written with then-unknown poet Ogden Nash. Throckmorton and Morley later produced plays at the Millpond Playhouse in Roslyn, New York, including a well-received production of Morley's "The Trojan Horse".Шаблон:Sfn Шаблон:CSS image crop While residing in a studio at West Third Street in New York City during the early 1930s,Шаблон:Sfn Throckmorton produced a series of drawings which soon decorated the "Volare" restaurant in Greenwich Village in New York City, where they have been hanging since 1933.Шаблон:Sfn In 1934, Throckmorton's four concept drawings for the scene designs in The Emperor Jones were included in the 1934 International Exhibition of Theatre Art at the Museum of Modern Art.Шаблон:Sfnm During this period, Throckmorton also became known as an architect and designer of theaters, working on the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut, the Cape Playhouse at Dennis on Cape Cod, and many others.Шаблон:Sfn In 1935, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Theatre Arts to study classic European theaters.Шаблон:Sfn

Decline and later years

After his artistic zenith during the Jazz Age, Throckmorton's theatrical work steadily declined in the 1940s, and he was forced to move on to other ventures. He became an event planner, created murals for restaurants and nightclubs, and designed private homes. He also did pioneering television work designing simulations of historical events, battles, and other events that could not be filmed.Шаблон:Sfn He became the first art director for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) during the early years of television.Шаблон:Sfn

As his career declined, Throckmorton divided his time between his Greenwich Village apartment and a residence in the Bahamas.Шаблон:Sfn In his final years, Throckmorton lived with his second wife Juliet Brenon in semi-retirement at 33 South North Carolina Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey.Шаблон:Sfnm He died at 68 years old on October 23, 1965.Шаблон:Sfn Nearly forty years after his death, he was posthumously inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2002.Шаблон:Sfn

Marriages

Файл:Katherine Mullen Krazy Kat Klub Crop.jpg
Katherine Mullen was Throckmorton's first wife and model.

Throckmorton's first wife was Katherine "Kat" Mullen.Шаблон:Sfn A model and sketch artist, Mullen was a frequent habitué of Throckmorton's speakeasy known as "The Kat" in Washington, D.C., and was also known for her radio performances as a singer and ukulele player with the Crandall Saturday Nighters.Шаблон:Sfnm Throckmorton likely divorced Mullen before he permanently relocated from Washington, D.C. to New York City.

On March 13, 1927, Throckmorton married his second wife, silent movie actress Juliet Brenon (1895–1979).Шаблон:Sfnm The Brenons were a musical and theatrical family; her father Algernon had been a music critic, and her uncle Herbert Brenon was a prolific film director who directed the first cinematic adaptation of The Great Gatsby (1926).Шаблон:Sfnm Juliet's sister Aileen (1894–1967) was a music critic and theatrical publicist whose husband was art critic Thomas Craven.Шаблон:Sfn

During the 1930s, Throckmorton and Brenon’s Greenwich Village apartment became an after-hours salon for thespians, artists, and intellectuals such as Noël Coward, Norman Bel Geddes, Eugene O'Neill, and E.E. Cummings.Шаблон:Sfnm Their politically leftward salon notably raised funds for the Republican faction during the Spanish Civil War.Шаблон:Sfn

See also

References

Citations

Шаблон:Commons category Шаблон:Reflist

Sources

Шаблон:Refbegin

Шаблон:Refend

External links

Шаблон:Authority control

Партнерские ресурсы
Криптовалюты
Магазины
Хостинг
Разное

Источник — http://wikihandbk.com/ruwiki/index.php?title=Английская_Википедия:Cleon_Throckmorton&oldid=13987745