Jun 24, 2021 - Sale 2574

Sale 2574 - Lot 184

Price Realized: $ 10,625
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
JOE EULA (1925-2004)
Archive of drawings and designs for Jerome Robbins dance productions. Includes costume designs for New York City Ballet productions "Dances at a Gathering" and "The Goldberg Variations" 1969-1971. The group comprises over 60 illustrations, from rough to finished, many with his manuscript notes, in a number of media including graphite, ink, watercolor, chalk, and color pencil. Some contain fabric swatches pinned to production notes and sketches.

Sizes vary, but many most on 8x10-inch or 9x12-inch sheets or larger, many are cut from those or larger sheets; the majority (roughly 40) are laid into the sleeves of a ring binder; 13 are mounted to display boards and shrink-wrapped with display mounting hooks on verso.

Eula's long and prolific career in fashion and performing arts began in the 1950s where, after serving in the Italian Campaign in World War II and completing studies at The Art Students League on the GI Bill, he was launched into the fashion world as the head illustrator for The New York Herald Tribune under Eugenia Sheppard. Soon to follow were positions at The London Sunday Times, American Vogue, The New York Times, and Italian Harper's Bazaar where he famously covered Yves Saint Laurent's first and last collections (1958 and 2002). However, it is as Halston's Creative Director throughout the 1970s that he is best remembered. That time was recently chronicled in the popular Netflix series "Halston" in which Eula is skillfully portrayed by actor David Pittu.

Eula made considerable contributions to the world of dance and theater; these detailed, thoughtful designs for Robbins' masterworks, for which he designed both sets and costumes, exemplify his genius for line, color, and form.