Robert Edmond Jones

Robert Edmond Jones was born December 12, 1887, in Lebanon, New Hampshire, at the property his family had for generations. He was the second child of six, and grew up with a love of poetry and music. He started drawing at a young age and became accomplished on the violin. After graduating from Harvard in 1910, Jones moved to New York City and began to do small jobs (mostly procured through his Harvard connections). Desiring more, Jones went to Europe with the hopes of studying with Edward Gordan Craig; instead, he found himself at the Deutsches Theatre. When he returned to the United States, Jones began his career on Broadway. In 1926, he met Carl Jung and underwent his first psychotherapy sessions, which had a profound influence on shaping his artist visions.

In 1933, Jones married Margaret Huston Carrington, a famous singer and the vocal coach to actor John Barrymore. Carrington passed away in 1942. Jones continued to work, but his health began to decline. After a successful career designing Broadway sets (and a brief stint in Hollywood), Jones returned to his childhood home, where he died on Thanksgiving Day, 1954.

Key Dates & Events

• 1913 - Jones began his studies at the Deutsches Theatre
• 1915 - Jones enjoys his first professional success with his designs for The Man Who Married a Dumb Wife
• 1928 - Jones designs the sets for the Broadway production of Machinal by Sophie Treadwell
• 1933 - Jones works in Hollywood in one of the first live-action, Technicolor films
• 1941 - Jones publishes The Dramatic Imagination