Jun 24, 2021 - Sale 2574
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Sale 2574 - Lot 193

Price Realized: $ 12,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
ADRIANNE LOBEL (1955-)
"An American Tragedy. Group of 19 original scenic concept designs for the 2005 Metropolitan Opera adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's play composed by Tobias Picker, libretto by Gene Scheer, and directed by Francesca Zambello. Graphite, ink, and collaged reproductions of photographs on paper, numbered in lower right. 356x432 mm; 14x17 inches, sheets. Unsigned, but with Lobel's notations in the margins. See additional images in condition report.

Dreiser's novel was inspired by the true events of a sensational murder trial that took place in the Adirondacks in 1906 where a reckless young man was accused and sent to the electric chair for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend.
To reflect the various locations and emotional intensity of the scenes, Lobel researched on location. She took a trip to region and photographed the locations where the murder unfolded and read the letters that the real-life woman, Grace Brown (upon whom the play's character, Roberta, was based) wrote to her lover, Clyde, begging him to marry her while he was running around with a high society girl he planned to leave her for. The result was a series of rough collages with the photos she took, creating a multi-level set that could allow split-screen scenes to happen simultaneously. Its success prompted accolades by critic Martin Bernheimer who wrote in the February 2006 issue of Opera (UK): "Adrianne Lobel's ingenious set, sensitively lit by James F. Ingalls, accommodated the fluid action on three tiers, austere vignettes appearing and disappearing behind sliding panels."

Lobel has designed sets for Broadway, off-Broadway, and metropolitan and regional theater productions worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, Le Chatelet, The Royal National Theater, BAM, the Yale Repertory Theatre, Théatre Royal de la Monnai, New York City Opera, SUNY Purchase, and Central Park's Delacorte Theater. Her prolific work for the Mark Morris Dance Group is widely acclaimed. Many of her stage maquettes and designs are housed in the permanent collection of the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas, including those for the Houston Grand Opera productions of "Nixon in China" and "Street Scene." In 2002 she produced and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Musical for "A Year With Frog and Toad" based upon the famous children's books by her late father, Arnold Lobel, whom she credits for instilling much of her work ethic and love of art.
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