Feb 19, 2008 - Sale 2136

Sale 2136 - Lot 44

Unsold
Estimate: $ 30,000 - $ 50,000
CHARLES SEBREE (1914 - 1985)
The Golden Fleece.

Collection of 11 gouache costume designs, 2 set designs, and title page design, circa 1945. Each costume design is signed and titled in ink, lower right. The set design mat was signed and that portion is included. The costumes include: Jason * Miranda (2) * Medea (2) * Beles * Blues Boy * Aeson * Priestess * Randa * Aeejes. Various sizes and conditions.

Provenance: ex-collection the artist; Owen Dodson, the playwright, New York; gifted to the current owner, the Hatch-Billops Collection, New York.

This collection represents a large group of important, early drawings by Sebree. These drawings were commissioned by the artist's friend Owen Dodson for the production of his verse play The Golden Fleece which reinterpreted the Medea Story. The play first premiered at Yale University in 1939 where Dodson received MFA student in playwriting. These Sebree designs were used for a later production called The Garden of Time which premiered in 1945 at The American Negro Theater (Harlem). This group of works on paper represents the largest known set of the artist's work related to the theatre.