Scenic Art Training

“No words can tell the artist exactly what colours he shold use, for everything depends on the mixture of colours.  The best plan for learning this part of the work is to get an old piece of scenery and try to copy it.  At the same time the learner should make a note of the colours that have been used to produce such and effect.  The artist must remember the effect he has to produce must not be that which he sees himself, bt that which the scenery will present when hung up and shown by artificial lights.”

Excerpt from Van Dyke Browne’s “Secrets of Scene Painting and Stage Effects” (1900, page 17)

I was trained how to painted by copying both small-scale renderings (scenic designs), fine art pieces, and extant scenery.  This was the method taught by Prof. Emeritus Lance Brockman at the University of Minnesota.  Unfortunately, this is no longer a priority or critical aspect of the program. For me, it was crucial as a scenic artist to understand both rendering techniques (small-scale) and scenic art techniques (large-scale).  The last drop that I painted for the University of Minnesota just a few years back was to replicate a historical rendering in the scenery collection database. Here is a link for this site https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/scenicsearch

Examples below are the original sketch and my interpretation on a 12′ x 18′ scale.  I used premix, not dry pigment.

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Color Rendering from Scenery Collection at the University of Minnesota

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Author: waszut_barrett@me.com

Wendy Rae Waszut-Barrett, PhD, is an author, artist, and historian, specializing in painted settings for opera houses, vaudeville theaters, social halls, cinemas, and other entertainment venues. For over thirty years, her passion has remained the preservation of theatrical heritage, restoration of historic backdrops, and the training of scenic artists in lost painting techniques. In addition to evaluating, restoring, and replicating historic scenes, Waszut-Barrett also writes about forgotten scenic art techniques and theatre manufacturers. Recent publications include the The Santa Fe Scottish Rite Temple: Freemasonry, Architecture and Theatre (Museum of New Mexico Press, 2018), as well as articles for Theatre Historical Society of America’s Marquee, InitiativeTheatre Museum Berlin’s Die Vierte Wand, and various Masonic publications such as Scottish Rite Journal, Heredom and Plumbline. Dr. Waszut-Barrett is the founder and president of Historic Stage Services, LLC, a company specializing in historic stages and how to make them work for today’s needs. Although her primary focus remains on the past, she continues to work as a contemporary scene designer for theatre and opera.

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