Boris Solomonowitsch Aronsson

Boris Solomonowitsch Aronsson (1920)

Boris Solomonovich Aronsson , born Borech-Ber Aronsson , ( Russian Борис Соломонович Аронсон , Ukrainian Борис Соломонович Аронсон Borys Solomonowytsch Aronson ; * October 15 ^{. Jul} / 27. October  1899 ^greg. In Kiev , Russian Empire ; † 16th November 1980 in Manhattan ) was a Ukrainian - Russian - American artist and set designer .

Life

Aronsson's father, Solomon Aronsson, was chief rabbi in Kiev and later in Tel Aviv-Jaffa . Aronsson studied at the Kiev Art School with Ivan Fyodorowitsch Selesnjow (graduated in 1916). From 1917 to 1918 he was a student of Alexandra Exters . She later introduced him to Vsevolod Emiljewitsch Meyerhold and Alexander Jakowlewitsch Tairow , under whose influence Aronsson became enthusiastic about theater and constructivism . After the October Revolution , he founded the Museum of Jewish Art in Kiev. In 1920 he came to Moscow and studied painting with Ilya Ivanovich Mashkov . He met Marc Chagall , who came to Moscow from Vitebsk in 1920 and created sets for Scholem Alejchem's plays for the Moscow State Jewish Theater . Aronsson propagated a Jewish style, combining the principles of abstract painting with elements of folk art . He analyzed the works of Marc Chagall, Natan Issajewitsch Altman , El Lissitzky and Iossif Moissejewitsch Tchaikov , among others .

In 1922 Aronsson left the USSR and went first to Poland and then to Berlin , where he held the First Exhibition of Russian Art in the Van Diemen Gallery with El Lissitzky and Naum Gabo . He designed a Hasidic dance costume for Baruch Agadati. At the end of 1923 he finally came to the USA. He worked as a set and costume designer for Yiddish theaters in New York City , in particular for Maurice Schwartz's Yiddish Art Theatr , for which he designed the set for Abraham Goldfaden's Tenth Commandment in 1926 . At the Group Theater he worked on works by Clifford Odets and Irwin Shaw .

In 1932 Aronsson made his Broadway debut with Vernon Duke with the musical Walk a Little Faster . His Broadway career then continued for more than 40 years. He worked for the 1948 musical Love Life by Alan Jay Lerner and Kurt Weill . He received his first Tony Award in 1951 for the set for The Rose Tattoo by Tennessee Williams . Other work included Arthur Miller's The Crucible (1953) and The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett (1955). In 1964 he created the set for Fiddler on the Roof . For his work for the musical Cabaret in 1966 he received the Tony Award in 1967. Of his six Tony Awards, the last was in 1976 for Pacific Overtures from Stephen Sondheim . At the Metropolitan Opera in 1977 he created the set for Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov .

In 1979 Aronsson was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame . His grave is in Oak Hill Cemetery in Nyack .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Find a Grave : Boris Aronson (accessed June 19, 2018).
2. ↑ ^{a b} Who was Boris Aronson? (accessed on June 19, 2018).
3. ↑ B. Aronson: Sovremennaja evrejskaja grafika . Petropolis-Verlag , Berlin-Charlottenburg 1924.
4. ^ Israel Museum : Boris Aronson (accessed June 19, 2018).
5. ↑ Internet Broadway Database: Boris Aronson (accessed June 19, 2018).
6. ↑ Harry Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin : Boris Aronson: An Inventory of His Scenic Design Papers at the Harry Ransom Center (accessed June 19, 2018).
7. ↑ Boris Aronson papers and designs 1923–2000 (accessed June 19, 2018).