Paula Gerard Renison Dance Sketches

Collection

Identifier: Dance-MS-RenisonP

Staff Only

Scope and Content of the Collection

Six pencil sketches and a résumé of Paula Gerard Renison.

The six pencil sketches are of dancers from the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo while in performance in Chicago during the 1938-1939 season at the Auditorium Theatre. The sketches include two of Leonid Massine in Three-Cornered Hat, one of Lubov Tchernicheva in Three-Cornered Hat, two of Alicia Markova in L’Epreuve D’Amour, and one of Michel Panaieff in L’Epreuve D’Amour.

Dates

Creation: 1938-1939

Creator

Gerard, Paula, 1907-1991 (Person)

Language

Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

The Paula Gerard Renison Dance Sketches are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The Paula Gerard Renison Dance Sketches are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Biography of Paula Gerard Renison

Artist, printmaker, teacher, and arts administrator.

Paula Gerard was born in England in 1907 to writer Helen Gerard (1885-1935). Initially she studied art in Florence, Italy, then went on to study in Europe, most notably in Venice, Paris, and Brussels. After moving to the United States in 1936, she attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, and at the Midway Studios at the University of Chicago. After graduation she was on staff, at various times, at all three schools. Her artwork is included in collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Smart Gallery at the University of Chicago, and the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida. She illustrated several books including The Great Speckled Bird and Is Your Contemporary Painting More Temporary Than You Think?, which she wrote with art conservator Louis Pomerantz.

Ms. Renison was married to the Argentine pianist, Herbert Renison, who for many years taught music at the Sherwood Conservatory of Music in Chicago. She died in Chicago in 1991.

Extent

0.9 Linear Feet (1 box)

Additional Description

Abstract

Six pencil sketches of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dancers drawn by artist Paula Gerard Renison during rehearsals and performances at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, 1938-1939.