Research Catalog

Title

Costume and fashion designs [graphic].

Author

Sobotka, Ruth, 1925-1967.

Publication

[1940 and later]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

• 2 paintings on tracing paper : watercolor, gouache, graphite, col.; 30 x 23 cm.
• 24 paintings : watercolor, gouache, ink, graphite, metallic pigments, col. ;
• 1 item ;

Summary

• The collection is arranged in two groups: Costume designs and Fashion designs.
• Costume designs (9 sheets): includes two designs on tracing paper dated 1946, one labeled Piper, Act I, the other Dream lady, Act II. Three sheets of designs are for medieval-style costumes, each portraying two figures; one is labeled Bluebeard. Two paintings are labeled Micale, one with a drawing on the verso; these were possibly made for a dance or theatre work on the biblical figure Michal. Two sheets each contain three figures in 19th-century costumes.
• Fashion designs (17 sheets): includes four designs dated 1940, nine dated 1941, and four without a date. Some sheets depict more than one figure. Three of the designs dated 1940 include details of eyes and lips. The garments include both day and evening attire, and two paintings focus on hats.

Genre/Form

• Costume design drawings.
• Paintings.

Note

• The collection includes a chart of dancers' names, colors and/or fabrics, color samples, articles of clothing, and measurements.
• One of the paintings labeled Micale has a drawing on the verso.
• Some of the paintings are signed. The artist's name appears variously as Ruth Sobotka, Sobotka, or Ruth.
• Two costume designs and thirteen fashion designs are dated.

Source (note)

• Mr. and Mrs. Walter Sobotka,

Biography (note)

• Ruth Sobotka was born in Vienna but immigrated with her parents to the United States in 1938. The fashion designs in this collection were made while she was in her teens, reflecting her precocious talent. Her art training included set design at the University of Pennsylvania and a degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology. She also studied dance at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet in New York City, and in 1946 joined his company Ballet Society, which became the New York City Ballet in 1948. While dancing with the company she designed costumes for various ballets, notably Jerome Robbins's The cage (1951). Her activities expanded to acting and art direction with her marriage to film director Stanley Kubrick, and she continued to study and perform as an actor after their divorce.

Call Number

*MGZGA Sob R Cos 1-27

OCLC

• 756661398
• 756661398

Author

Sobotka, Ruth, 1925-1967.

Title

Costume and fashion designs [graphic].

Imprint

[1940 and later]

Biography

Ruth Sobotka was born in Vienna but immigrated with her parents to the United States in 1938. The fashion designs in this collection were made while she was in her teens, reflecting her precocious talent. Her art training included set design at the University of Pennsylvania and a degree from Carnegie Institute of Technology. She also studied dance at George Balanchine's School of American Ballet in New York City, and in 1946 joined his company Ballet Society, which became the New York City Ballet in 1948. While dancing with the company she designed costumes for various ballets, notably Jerome Robbins's The cage (1951). Her activities expanded to acting and art direction with her marriage to film director Stanley Kubrick, and she continued to study and perform as an actor after their divorce.

Local Note

Cataloging funds provided by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Source

Gift; Mr. and Mrs. Walter Sobotka, 1968.

Research Call Number

*MGZGA Sob R Cos 1-27