Review
"...fascinating collection of sketches, engravings, paintings and photographs..." -- American Theatre
Commedia dell'Arte originated (probably) in sixteenth-century Italy, and has been around ever since. It has added characters and changed names with changing countries, but its basic pattern runs through painting, circus, all forms of theater, and on into cinema. It will probably reach outer space in time. The characters have become archetypes; their antics are infinitely variable, and their relationships fluid enough to give artists the to convert them into sad or merry symbols at will. Ms. Lawner's history of the genre makes a pretty, amusing book that is also informative. -- The Atlantic Monthly, Phoebe Lou Adams
Commedia dell'Arte originated (probably) in sixteenth-century Italy, and has been around ever since. It has added characters and changed names with changing countries, but its basic pattern runs through painting, circus, all forms of theater, and on into cinema. It will probably reach outer space in time. The characters have become archetypes; their antics are infinitely variable, and their relationships fluid enough to give artists the to convert them into sad or merry symbols at will. Ms. Lawner's history of the genre makes a pretty, amusing book that is also informative. -- The Atlantic Monthly, Phoebe Lou Adams
