
Tones to be Used on Floor Cloth. Set design for the play A Moon for the Misbegotten
1947 · Watercolor and felt-tip pen on paperboard
15 x 10" (38.1 x 25.4 cm)
Museum of Modern Art

Robert Edmond Jones was an American stage designer and theorist whose innovative scenic approaches fundamentally transformed theatrical production in the early twentieth century. Working primarily in New York from the 1910s onward, he developed a modernist vocabulary of simplified forms, atmospheric lighting, and symbolic color that rejected the literal pictorial sets of his predecessors. His designs for productions at the Theatre Guild and other major venues established him as a foundational figure in American avant-garde theater practice. Jones also authored influential writings on stagecraft that shaped subsequent generations of designers.
Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 25d ago