Scope and Contents
Dates
- 1905 - 1963
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
Portfolio folders 31-34: Restricted fragile material. Reference surrogates have been substituted in the main files. For further information consult the appropriate curator.
Conditions Governing Use
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Arrangement
Extent
1.05 Linear Feet ((4 boxes) + 2 portfolios)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
EDWARD GORDON CRAIG, 1872-1966
In 1893, Craig married May Gibson, and moved from London to Uxbridge. Under the influence of the artists James Ferrier Pryde and William Nicholson, he learned the art of wood-engraving, and began his career as a graphic designer. In 1893 he directed and designed his first stage production: Alfred de Musset's On ne badine pas avec l'amour. Around this time he also published a magazine, The Page, consisting mostly of his own engravings, and in 1899 published a book of woodcuts with accompanying verses entitled Gordon Craig's Book of Penny Toys.
Craig's career as a stage designer continued to evolve as he collaborated with Martin Shaw in 1901 and 1902 productions of Dido and Aeneas, The Mask of Love and other plays. In 1904 Craig traveled to Berlin to work with the Lessing Theatre, and in 1905 he published his most famous essay, The Art of the Theatre, which was later expanded and republished as On the Art of the Theatre. In Germany he met the dancer Isadora Duncan, with whom he had a brief but intense affair, ending in 1906. Duncan persuaded the theater producer Konstantin Stanislavsky to invite Craig to Moscow, and there he designed an important 1912 production of Hamlet. In 1913, Craig fulfilled a longtime dream by founding his School for the Art of the Theatre in the Arena Goldoni in Florence; however, it closed shortly thereafter at the outbreak of World War I.
Over his long career Craig became known as an important innovator in theater design, popularizing a modern, minimalist style in contrast to the more extravagant style of his mother's age, and his writings, artwork and design had an enormous impact on twentieth-century theater. His publications include the theatrical periodical The Mask (1908-1929), and the books Books and Theatres (1925), Ellen Terry and Her Secret Self (1931), Nothing, or, the Bookplate (1924), The Theatre - Advancing (1919) and his autobiography, Index to the Story of My Days (1957). He spent the last years of his life in the south of France, and died there in 1966.
Processing Information
- Craig, Edward Gordon, 1872-1966
- Craig, Edward Gordon, 1872-1966 (Towards a new theatre)
- Etchings (prints)
- Junge, Ewald
- Macfall, Haldane, 1860-1928
- Macfall, Mabel
- Moskovskiĭ khudozhestvennyĭ akademicheskiĭ teatr
- Photographs
- Set designers -- United States
- Set designers -- United States
- Theater -- Production and direction
- Theaters -- Stage-setting and scenery
- Woodcuts (prints)
- Title
- Guide to the Edward Gordon Craig Collection
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- by Kathryn Rawdon and Beinecke Staff
- Date
- January 1999
- Description rules
- Beinecke Manuscript Unit Archival Processing Manual
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.