Nineteenth-century theatrical scenery

Theatrical realism was a general movement in 19th-century theatre from the time period of 1870-1960 that developed a set of dramatic and theatrical conventions with the aim of bringing a greater fidelity of real life to texts and performances. Part of a broader artistic movement, it included a focus on everyday middle-class drama, ordinary speech, and simple settings. This idea of representing subject matter truthfully, was evident in the changes that were made to scenic design in theater. Theatrical designers and directors began meticulously researching historical accuracy for their productions, which meant that scenery could no longer be drawn from stock - which was typically used over and over again in generic settings for different shows. Scenery began to be custom-designed and made for specific production. This meant, while scenery used to be seen as capital investment, it was now considered to be more disposable when the production was removed from the repertory.[1]

One of the most important scenic transitions into the 20th century was from the often-used two-dimensional scenic backdrop to three-dimensional sets. Previously, as a two-dimensional environment, scenery did not provide an embracing, physical environment for the dramatic action happening on stage. This changed when three-dimensional sets were introduced in the first half of the century. With this innovation, along with change in audience and stage dynamic as well as advancements in theater architecture that allowed for hidden scene changes, the theater became more representational instead of presentational, and invited the audience to be transported to a conceived 'other' world.[2]

19th-century scenic styles in America were unique derivations from the European masters. Scenic artists from Europe brought with them the Romantic, Baroque, or classical landscapes that they knew from their homes, but the styles seemed to change when they landed on the American shore.[6] The romantic English landscape painting style slowly adapted to the American image. The more rugged wild-western American landscape came to be idealized by native scenic artists throughout the century. Many theatres invested in generic scenery meant for virtually any production. An all-purpose set included landscapes, European cities, prison, palace, village, mountain pass, and forest.[7]

The oleo was a versatile drop for any sort of entertainment. The oleo drop often hung in the in-one position, subdividing the stage into a shallower depth that was more appropriate for a brief interlude.[8] The act curtain or drop curtain functioned as today's main drape, the decorative divider wall between audience and stage. Often, it was the most elaborate piece a theater owned and was painted to harmonize with the interior decorations of the theater itself.

During the nineteenth century, the technology of the Industrial Revolution was applied to theater. Many historians believe that the popularity of melodrama, with its emphasis on stage spectacle and special effects, accelerated these technological innovations: For example, Dion Boucicault was responsible for the introduction of fireproofing in the theater when one of his melodramatic plays called for an onstage fire.[9]

Panorama

While the invention of the panorama is attributed to Robert Barker in 1787, Louis Jacques Daguerre is largely seen as having perfected the invention in the 19th century. He created the diorama: a still painting viewed by an audience sitting on a rotating platform. This soon gave way to the moving panorama: a setting painted on a long cloth, which could be unrolled across the stage by turning spools, created an illusion of movement and changing locales. A popular American play, William Dunlap's A Trip to Niagara (1828), used this device to show a voyage from New York City to Niagara Falls via a steamboat.[10] The advent of the panoramas coupled with Charles Kean’s invention of the Corsican trap meant that entire horse and chariot races could be enacted on stage.[11] The emphasis on recreating natural environments onstage was probably influenced by romanticism, which called for a "return to nature."

The movable stage at Madison Square Theater, New York

It was during this time that scenic artists began to be recognized for their work. Many of the scenic artists operated their own scenic studios in New York and towards the latter half of the century, the first theatrical unions were formed as a response to the Theatre Syndicate. Producers who originally hired staff carpenters and company painters began to place their productions out to bid. It was also during this time period that designers began working with models to convey their design.[17]

• Steele MacKaye (1842-1894) was an innovative theater technologist who invented the elevator stage. In 1880, at the Madison Square Theater in New York, MacKaye used two stages: one above the other, which could be raised and lowered; while one stage was in view of the audience, the scenery on the other, which was either in the basement or in the fly area, could be changed.[18]
• David Belasco (1853-1931) was an American producer, director and playwright. Mr. Belasco is primarily remembered today for his emphasis on naturalistic detail. David Belasco is best known for his ultra-realistic melodramas of the turn of the century. He and his chief scenic artist, George Gros, created meticulously detailed interiors, realistic exteriors, and stunning atmospheric effects.[19] Belasco and Gros produced some of the most memorable scenic inventions of the American theatre and certainly some of the finest realistic scenery of theatre history. His laborious scenic and lighting techniques were seen by the avant-garde as the embodiment of every ill of the stage and were severely ridiculed by history. In 1909, for a production of The Easiest Way, his scenic artist placed the contents of a boarding house room, including the wallpaper, on the stage of the Stuyvesant Theatre and three years later (1912) he built on stage a fully functioning restaurant for the Governor's Lady.[20]

Alfred Roller, Before a Palace, for Goethe's Faust, Part II, Act V, Scene 17, 1911, pen and black ink, watercolor and gouache, on paper

• Alfred Roller (1864-1935) was trained as a painter in Vienna, but his designs hinted at a new concept of scenic design.[21] Focused entirely on the interplay of light and color to create evocative stage spaces. Roller’s designs relied on a selected or simplified realism in which only few items were introduced to the stage, but each of them evocative, detailed and powerful. He utilized mobile scenic towers that could be rearranged and altered with light to form new shapes and movement patterns on the stage (Sumner 338). He was probably the earliest designer to embody and practice the ideas of Adolph Appia and Edward Gordon Craig.
• Charles Witham (1842-1926) was born in Portland, Maine and educated as an artist. He spent some time as an itinerant landscapist before becoming involved with the theater. Thanks to the friendship of Gaspard Maeder, Witham obtained his first theatre job as Maeder's assistant when the latter was chief designer for Niblo’s Garden in New York in the early 1860s. By 1863, Witham had become head designer for the Boston Theater where he painted scenery for Edwin Forrest. His stay in Boston was short because he was hired by Edwin Booth to join his staff as scenic artist. He would go on to be Booth's primary designer for years to come. His work remains the largest surviving collection of theater scenic art from the time period.[22]

Scene from Daly's Under the Gaslight (1867)

• Under the Gaslight (1867) was one of the first of many plays to use a steam engine onstage while the hero was being tied to the railway tracks. “Despite the fact that, on the first night, the machinery of the great railroad scene failed to work properly, the audience was held in tense excitement, and the play from the outset was a success”. It ran for 110 performances.[23] The mechanical effects involved are said to have been patented by Augustin Daly.

Poster of musical theatre The Black Crook, representing the finale in which the Amazons crush the forces of evil

• There were many thrills in The Black Crook (1866), but the greatest of them was the corps de ballet and the hundreds of costumes. After the premier, which lasted from 7:45 pm till 1:15 am, the Tribune reported that “The Scenery is magnificent; the ballet is beautiful; the drama is—rubbish…the last scene in the play, however, will dazzle and impress to even a greater degree, by its lavish richness and barbaric splendor. All that gold and silver, and gems and light, and woman’s beauty can contribute to fascinate the eye and charm the sense.[24] The best exhibited scenery piece is the one that closes the second act: a vast grotto extending into an almost measureless perspective. Stalactites descend from the arched roof. A tranquil and lovely lake reflects the golden glories that span it like a vast sky. In every direction one sees the bright sheen or the dull richness of massy gold. Beautiful fairies and sprites make the scene luxuriant.[25]
• The Poor of New York (1899) scenically displayed such contrasts and spectacles as a rich home in Madison Square, a tenement house in Cross Street, with a fire, a bank in Nassau Street, and a snow storm in Union Square.[26]

The end of the 19th century witnessed both the height and the end of scenery painted in traditional perspective. Scenic design was realistic and creative, releasing the audience’s imagination. Realism was but a passing style. Towards the end of the century, realism would find an opposite in naturalism. Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig would be the ones to revolt against the idea of the actor standing on a flat floor surrounded by “realistic” painted canvases. Their controversial ideas would be the basis of the New Stagecraft. The 20th century would bring the scenic designer an entirely new aesthetic for the world of the theatre in the form of Henrik Ibsen and Modernism. As movies replaced theatre’s popularity, an international aesthetic weighed in against painted scenery, scenic studios began to shrink, and scenic artists began to disappear. The golden age of scenic painting of the 19th century rapidly turned to a much more fragmented one in the 20th century, as theatre styles changed radically and eventually the theatre lost popularity to movies and television.

Beudert, Susan Crabtree & Peter. Scenic Art for the Theatre: History, Tools, and Techniques. Ed. Taylor & Francis. Illustrated. 2005.