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Eugene O'Neill, 1888-1953
Born New York City
Until Eugene O'Neill turned to writing drama in the early twentieth century, American plays had consisted largely of forgettable comedies and romantic melodramas. O'Neill broke with that tradition and, through his staged probing into the human condition, became the first American dramatist to achieve lasting recognition.
Raised in a theatrical family, the reclusive O'Neill experienced his first major triumph in 1920 with the New York production of his Pulitzer Prize–winning Beyond the Horizon. In the next ten years, he enjoyed many other successes. But his most enduring achievements were the plays he wrote toward the end of his life, among them Long Day's Journey into Night and The Iceman Cometh.
The strong, spare lines and bold forms of this print convey O'Neill's brooding personality. This is one of a series of color prints that Harry De Maine made in the 1920s, based on drawings by etcher and caricaturist William Auerbach-Levy.
Harry De Maine, after William Auerbach-Levy, c 1928 |