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 Paradise Theater, Chicago, Illinois, 1928. |
Eberson
was born in Cernauti, Bukovina, a region of Romania. He attended high
school in Dresden and studied at the University of Vienna in 1893. After
escaping from prison (he was incarcerated after a disagreement with a
superior officer in his military regiment) Eberson moved to the United
States and settled in St. Louis, Missouri. His earliest atmospheric experiments
are found in his stage design and painting work between 1901-03 for the
Johnston Realty and Construction Company. Eberson's earliest known conventional
theater commission was for the Jewel in Hamilton, Ohio (1909). After moving
to Chicago in 1910 he began to receive steady theater design work. While
his early commissions could be characterized as traditional, by the mid-1910's
Eberson had clearly forged a new direction with the Austin Majestic (1916)
and Dallas Majestic theaters (1917). His first truly Atmospheric Theater,
the Houston Majestic, opened in 1923. The Atmospheric Theaters reflected
Eberson's European heritage. Italian influences, especially in statuary
and interior motifs. In addition, were landscape and garden influences.
Eberson's theater interiors contained numerous fountains and grottoes. [Adapted from an exhibition publication of the Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Art Gallery, Hunter College (1988)] About the CollectionThe collection includes student work and four atmospheric theatre projects, Loew's Theatre (Louisville, KY; 1927), Loew's Theatre (Akron, OH; 1928), Avalon Theatre (Chicago, IL; 1925), Paradise Theatre (Chicago, IL; 1928).Gift of Drew Eberson (1984). |
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