 Kim Edgar Swados collection
Collection DescriptionHistorical NoteKim Edgar Swados (1920- ), theatrical set designer active in the 1950s-1960s avant garde theater movement, resident of New York City and Los Angeles, California. Hailed by Robert Edmond Jones for his imaginative use of the entire stage, not simply the set, Swados possessed a powerful creative imagination which found its expression in the modern and experimental theatre. Not interested in realistic plays, Swados worked best in fashioning sets for the theatre of the subconscious and theatre of the avant garde. His sets for the unproduced Lincoln Kirstein production of Kafka's The Trial, for example, were powerful metaphors which communicated the anxiety and terror of modern man's inability to deal with the forces around him. Overall, Swados' work shows a great originality in relation to the themes of modern theatre. While Swados worked in television and film, it was his theatre work which allowed him to find full expression of his creative imagination. This collection consists of all of his extant theatrical sets, with the others given away or discarded after the production. It makes a very useful and important research collection for the student of modern theatre and set design. Scope and ContentThe collection contains theatrical and motion picture set designs. Included are color and black and white sketches, pencil tracings, blueprints, photographs, negatives, playbills, printed material, and clippings documenting Mr. Swados' work in the New York theater and in motion pictures. Administrative InformationPreferred CitationKim Edgar Swados collection, ms2559, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries. Finding Aid PublicationFinding aid prepared on: 2010 March 22. General NotesCataloged as part of the Georgia Archives and Manuscripts Automated Access Project: A Special Collections Gateway Program of the University Center in Georgia. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject Terms | ||||||||||||||||||