Boris Aronson (1898 – November 16, 1980) was an influential Jewish-American scenic designer for Broadway and Yiddish theatre. The son of a Rabbi, Aronson was born in Kiev in the Russian Empire and enrolled in art school during his youth. Boris later became an apprentice to the designer Aleksandra Ekster, who in turn introduced him to the directors Vsevolod Meyerhold and Alexander Tairov, all of whom exerted immense influence on him. These three theatre and art veterans were advocates of the Constructivist school in Russia, as opposed to Stanislavski's form of Realism, and they convinced Aronson to embrace the Constructivist style.

Aronson worked for some years in Moscow and Germany until he was able to obtain a visa for emigration to America. He moved to the Lower East Side in New York City and soon began designing sets and costumes for the more experimental of the city's Yiddish theatres, including most notably Maurice Schwartz's famous Yiddish Art Theatre. He achieved fame in New York's Jewish community when he designed Schwartz's popular 1926 revival of Abraham Goldfaden's play The Tenth Commandment. However, he soon after left the Yiddish Theatre to prevent his work's "ghettoization", and debuted on Broadway in 1932 with a revival of Vernon Duke and Yip Harburg's Walk a Little Faster. During the 1930s he also worked on several productions by the Group Theatre, including works by Clifford Odets and Irwin Shaw.

From 1934 to 1952 Aronson designed scenes, costumes, and lighting for thirty-four plays and three musicals on Broadway that achieved varying degrees of recognition, but those successes were overshadowed by his work for the original 1953 production of The Crucible and the 1955 stage adaptation of Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl. He continued his work on Broadway into the 1970s with notable and famous musicals such as Do Re Mi, Fiddler on the Roof (for which Aronson returned to his earlier experience with Jewish theatre, and was a turning point in his career), Cabaret, Zorba, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, and Pacific Overtures.

Aronson also designed sets for the Metropolitan Opera, as well as various ballet companies, including a production of The Nutcracker choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov. He was also a non-theatrical artist, working as a painter and sculptor. At the time of his death in 1980, he was a highly respected member of New York's theatre and art community and one of its most famous designers. Boris' wife was Lisa Jalowetz, who worked on many of Aronson's shows as his assistant.

Tony Awards and Nominations for Best Scenic Design

• 1951 Season in the Sun, The Rose Tattoo and The Country Girl - winner
• 1956 The Diary of Anne Frank, A View from the Bridge, Once Upon A Tailor and Bus Stop - nominee
• 1957 A Hole in the Head and Small War on Murray Hill - nominee
• 1958 The Rope Dancers, Orpheus Descending and A Hole in the Head - nominee
• 1959 J.B. - nominee
• 1965 Fiddler on the Roof - nominee
• 1967 Cabaret - winner
• 1968 The Price - nominee
• 1968 Zorba - winner
• 1971 Company - winner
• 1972 Follies - winner
• 1973 A Little Night Music - nominee
• 1976 Pacific Overtures - winner

Sources

• Boris Aronson Scenic Design Papers, 1939-1977
• Complete Broadway Credits at the Internet Broadway Database

1980 deaths | Designers | Jewish Americans | Jewish biography stubs | Jewish film and theatre | Jewish visual artists | Lighting designers | Russian avant-garde | Ukrainian artists | Ukrainian people | Yiddish theatre