Shakespeare Coriolanus : 12 Buhnenentwurfe von Alfred Roller [graphic].

Shakespeare Coriolanus : 12 Buhnenentwurfe von Alfred Roller [graphic].

Wien, 1921.

12 prints ; Largest print: 46 x 35 cm

Dealer's description: Alfred Roller (1864-1935) was born in Brno, Moravia in 1864 and trained in architecture and fine arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He was one of the founding members of the Vienna Secession and contributed many designs to the landmark journal Ver Sacrum. Despite his success as a painter and graphic artist, Roller would find his true vocation as a stage designer. In 1903 he was invited by Gustav Mahler to provide stage designs for a production of Wagner and continued to work at the Vienna Hofoper through the end of Mahler's tenure in 1909. Roller also worked as a designer with great Austrian director Max Reinhardt and he joined with Reinhardt and Hugo von Hofmannstahl in founding the renowned Salzburg Festival. Roller wrote of the genesis of his Coriolanus designs: "The only work of Shakespeare in which there is neither day nor night, sunshine nor storm, there are no trees or clouds, in the text that is, because in place of a living natural backdrop there is only "the people". That is the surrounding world. And as we do not perform on bare stages - alas, not yet - I conveyed the peculiar nature of this work by creating black and white drawings in place of the usual stage designs. My woodcuts, I had enlarged thirty times and painted. The production bore out the success of this process (for this once!), as no one remarked on the absence of color. And that is why the Coriolanus designs are woodcuts." (cited in Alfred Roller Gedachtnisausstellung, Prag: 1939 p.16). Speaking of his eighth woodcut design for the decisive scene of the tragedy Roller writes: "I spent the entire evening organizing the entrances and exits from stage right and stage left. Only the exit of Coriolanus on his banishment is made center stage. The effect of this silent exit was incomparably strong." (op.cit)

These prints are housed together in one large folder, because prints 6 and 7 are too large for the Medium-size folders.

This is a PRELIMINARY RECORD. It may contain incorrect information. Please email catalog@folger.edu for assistance.

From Dealer's description: These test prints, on different papers, some with annotations, constitute the only complete set of Roller's ground breaking designs for Coriolanus.

ART 268196 no.1-12 (size L)

Adopted by Bob and Andy Dodds, Acquisitions Night 2015.

Adopted by Steven Dunn and Tom Burkhardt, Acquisitions Night 2015.

Adopted by Alison and John Steadman, Acquisitions Night 2015.

268196