Set design for Shakespeare's Othello, Act 1
This print encapsulates Exter’s design for the opening scene of Shakespeare’s Othello and comes from a group of prints that distills her innovative ideas. As an influential modernist painter and stage designer, the artist moved between her native Russia, Germany, and France before settling in Paris, where she taught at the Académie de l’Art Moderne. In a radical new approach to staging, colored screens represent Venetian facades, and a spiral stair leads to a lightly indicated balcony outside the room where Desdemona’s father sleeps. Below, Iago and Rodrigo simulate a robbery to wake the senator so they may inform him that his daughter has eloped with Othello.
Artwork Details
- Title: Set design for Shakespeare's Othello, Act 1
- Series/Portfolio: Maquettes de Théâtre
- Artist: Alexandra Exter (Russian, Belostok, Russia 1882–1949 Paris, France)
- Publisher: Editions des Quatre Chemins (French)
- Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
- Published in: Paris
- Date: 1930
- Medium: Pochoir; from an edition of 160
- Dimensions: Sheet: 13 × 19 15/16 in. (33 × 50.6 cm)
Image: 9 1/16 × 11 5/8 in. (23 × 29.5 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Nikita D. Lobanov, 1970
- Object Number: 1970.721.1
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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