biography of Jo MIELZINER (1901-1976)

Birth place: Paris, France

Addresses: NYC

Profession: Designer, lecturer, mural painter, illustrator

Studied: NAD; ASL; PAFA; Paris; Vienna; Fordham Univ. (hon. D.F.A., 1947); Otterbein College (hon. HH.D., 1967); Univ. Mich. (hon. D.F.A., 1971); Univ. Utah (hon. LH.D., 1972).

Exhibited: AIC, 1928, 1934; MoMA; Mus. City of NY; solos of paintings, Lib. & Mus. Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, Brandeis Univ & Coffee House Club, 1966, VMFA, 1967, & Int. Exhs. Found. tour, 1968-69; Century Assn. Exh., 1971; Mielziner Theatrical Designs, Toneelmuseum, Amsterdam, Holland, 1972; WMAA. Awards: Oscar for color art dir. on "Picnic," Acad. Motion Pictures, 1955; five Antoinette Perry Awards & five Donaldson Awards for set design; Ford Found. Award for Theatre Design, 1960.

Member: Royal Soc. Arts (Benjamin Franklin fellow); U.S. Inst. Theatre. Tech. (bd. dirs.); Am. Theatre Planning Bd. (chmn.); British Theatre Lighting Designers; Century Assn.; Arch. Lg.; Scenic Artists Un.

Work: stage settings, Metropolitan Opera and Tudor's ballet, "Pillar of Fire," Ballet Theatre; 150 musical & dramatic productions, NYC, 1924-46; Michelangelo's "Pieta," Vatican Pavilion, WFNY; comn. by State Dept. to design setting for U.N. Conf., San Fran., 1945.

Comments: Positions: designer of stage settings for operas, ballets, musical comedies, 1924-, incl. Winterset, Glass Menagerie, Death of a Salesman, Street Scene, Summer and Smoke, Guys and Dolls, A Streetcar Named Desire, The King and I, Gypsy, The Innocents, Can-Can & many others; collab. des., Repertory Theatre, Lincoln Center; consult. des., The Forum, Los Angeles Music Center; co-des. & consult., Univ. Mich. Theatre, Ann Arbor, theatre, Univ. Illinois Krannert Center & Southern Illinois Univ., Edwardsville Theatre; des., spec. portable stage, East Room, The White House. Publications: contrib., The Theater of Robert Edmond Jones; auth., Designing for the Theatre; auth., Shapes of Our Theatre, 1970. Teaching: lectures on stage design, Fordham Univ.

Sources: WW73; WW47.