Битеф

prlikom svog kratkog boravka u Jugoslaviji posetio i Pozorišni muzej Srbije i tom prilikom rekao: "Ima nekoliko vrsta pozorišnih muzeja u svetu. U nekim zemljama svako pozorište ima svoj muzej, u nekim opet postoje gradski ill nacionalni muzeji. Mislim da je osnovna slabost svih pozorišnih muzeja što prikazuju uglavnom samq istorijski razvoj pozorišta u jednoj, odnosno svojoj zemlji. Čini mi se da bi neophodno bilo da se u pozorišnim muzejima održavaju izložbe stranih pozorišnih kolekcija kako bi posetioci dobili pregled pozorišnog života uopšte..." ( "Borba", Beograd, 14. jul 1956) Uviđajući ispravnost ovog stanovišta Muzej pozorišne umetnosti Srbije je, iz nevelikog fonda fotografija stranog pozorišta, izdvojio da ekponira ovu značajnu kolekciju američke pozorišne fotografije, kako bi se savremena pubiika upoznala, ne samo sa malo poznatim fondovima našeg Muzeja, već i sa pionirima pozorisne umetnosti u Sjedinjenim Američkim Državama, koja po mnogim svojim odlikama (vreme, repertoar, gluma, režija, scenografija, kostim, organizacija itd) koincidira sa počecima i usponom pozorišnog života druge polovine 19. veka na našem tlu. OLGA MARKOVIĆ, muzejski savetnik

AMERICAN THEATRE PHOTORGAPHY OF 19TH CENTURY

INTRODUCTION It's been fifty years since the foundation of the Museum of Theatre Art and almost as much since the beginning of a wonderful cooperation that had noble causes and gave great results - the contemporary generations of theatre lovers and admirers can witness this fact for themselves. Back in 1945 an American theatre expert, Mr. Henry W. Wells, a professor of theatre history at the Columbia University in New York, as well the manager of Grander Matthews Dramatic Museum, initiated an exhibition about the development of Theatre Art in Yugoslavia since it's beginning up to that moment. The exhibition was a part of the 200th anniversary of the Columbia University. It had more than 900 exhibits and was brought to life by the Museum of Theatre Art in Belgrade, led by Mrs. Milena Nikolic, who was the Museum's manager at that time and had a lively correspondence with Mr. Wells. The exhibition about theatre in Yugoslavia was a part of the project "Six special exhibitions; The leading theatres of the small countries" (Norway, Holland, Yugoslavia, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden). It is necessary to say that, a century ago, even the founder of this Museum, Grander Matthews (1852-1929) pointed out the common factor of stage in all the countries by exhibiting models of theatres and other facilities from different countries of both East and West,

because "art, being a product of mind, doesn't depend on quantity or size. Smaller countries and towns often contributed a great deal. Today it's not enough to say that it's not a common belief that the spiritual leadership of the world belongs to the great powers." (from the program of the exhibition). During the preparation of the Yugoslav exhibition (December - January 1954/55), in the letter dated 11th June 1954, Mr. Henry Wells writes to Mrs. Milena Nikolic: "Today I sent You 123 photos, too; I think you can say they're rare. They can be dated in 1850 to 1900 and in certain cases are the examples of the earliest stages of photography. Almost all the actors that played in America during these years are shown in the photos. Of course, some of them appeared before 1850, some after 1900, but the photos belong to the mentioned period almost without exception. I think that not many collections, representing this field of American drama, can be found in Europe. Only a few actors are the great Europeans appearing in America, like Sarah Bernhardt, but almost all of them have American origin. As You know, at that time it was almost impossible to take pictures of the stage itself, because the cameras used required special conditions of a photo-studio. In spite of this, the photos are strong in many cases. I'm sending You what I find to be our best duplicates, and I'm asking You to consider it as a gift of our Grander Matthews Dramatic Museum to Your Museum... I'd like to mention that some of the photos have the mark of Harvard Theatre Collection, but I assure You they were acquired from this institution legally. It’s the way how duplicates circulate; these that I'm sending You are on a very long way..." It was October 1954 when our Museum showed the Belgrade audience this extraordinary gift-exhibition, whose donor, Mr. Wells, came to Yugoslavia only two years later, in July 1956. During this short stay he visited the Theatre Museum of Serbia and at that occasion he said: "There are several types of theatre museums in the world. In some countries each theatre has its museum, in some, again, there are city or national museums. I think the basic weakness of ail these theatre museums is that they mostly show the historical development in only one, i.e. in their country. It seems that in such museums it's necessary to have exhibitions of foreign theatre collections, in order to give the visitors better review of the overall theatre life..." ("Borba", Belgrade, 14th July 1956) The Museum of Theatre Art of Serbia agrees with this point of view and has decided to arrange the exhibition of this significant collection of American theatre photography so Belgrade contemporary audience can get acquainted not only with less famous Museum's funds but as well as with pioneers of theatre art of USA, which, judging by many characteristics (time, repertoire, acting, directing, scenography, costumes, organization etc.), coincides with the beginnings and arising of theatre life in our country in 19th century, OLGA MARKOVIĆ