Lot 38: PENE DU BOIS, RAOUL. 1914-1985. Original gouache, "Banjo Man," costume design for the Broadway musical Sugar Babies, 1979,

PENE DU BOIS, RAOUL. 1914-1985.
Original gouache, "Banjo Man," costume design for the Broadway musical Sugar Babies, 1979, gouache, ink and pencil, 280 x 195 mm, matted and framed.WITH: Two silhouette drawings for Kitty (1945) starring Paulette Goddard and Ray Milland, ink and wash over pencil, 310 x 210 mm; 115 x 70 mm, the larger of the two initialed lower right" "R.P.D.," each matted and framed. Raoul Pene Du Bois, nephew of painter Guy Pene Du Bois and cousin of illustrator William Pene Du Bois, was one of the premiere Broadway costume and set designers of the 20th-century. He was only 14 years old when he designed four showgirl costumes for Ziegfeld Follies of 1934. In all he designed costumes and/or scenery for 48 shows including the original productions of Jumbo (1935), DuBarry Was a Lady (1939), Call Me Madam (1950), The Music Man (1957) and Gypsy (1960). He won the Tony for scenic design for Wonderful Town in 1953 and costumes for No, No, Nanette in 1971. Sugar Babies was his final show. He was nominated twice for the Oscar for Best Art Direction. The two silhouettes were part of the decor of Mitchell Liesen's comedy Kitty set in London in the late 18th Century. Raoul Pene Du Bois' theater designs for Jumbo profoundly affected Mr. Knight when a boy. "Seeing that production in the extraordinary Hippodrome theater...was the first and most influential event that led to my later career in the theater," he now admits. "It also began a fascination with the circus itself and design for the theater."