Jewels in Her Crown: Treasures of Columbia University Libraries Special Collections

Exhibition Themes > Theater History & Dramatic Arts > 244. Florine Stettheimer

244.  Florine Stettheimer (1871-1944).  Maquettes made for costumes and scenery for Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts. Wire, crepe paper, thread, feathers, sequins, toile, velvet, cellophane. New York, 1934. RBML, Florine Stettheimer Papers

Artist Florine Stettheimer is well known for her lavish sets and costumes that she designed for the first production of Gertrude Stein's opera Four Saints in Three Acts, with music by Virgil Thomson. Rather than use flat drawings, Stettheimer created these figures from a wide variety of materials, including the newly invented cellophane, seen here on the palm trees, and used extensively for the set itself.

Gift of the Estate of Ettie Stettheimer, 1967

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