Elizabeth "Lisa" Jalowetz

Lisa Jalowetz Aronson (1920-2013) was a stage designer and collaborator with Boris Aronson for major Broadway productions including A Little Night Music, Fiddler on the Roof, The Crucible and many others. She worked with notable theater persons including Harry Horner and Norman Bel Geddes. She collaborated with Frank Rich on The Theatre of Boris Aronson, documenting his work as a stage designer. As daughter of conductor Heinrich Jalowetz, she spent her childhood in Austria and Germany. When the Nazis invaded Vienna where she was a student, she escaped to Holland. A student visa from Black Mountain College where her father had been appointed enabled her to immigrate to the United States.

Biography written by Mary Emma Harris for the Black Mountain College Project.

Alternative Name: Lisa Aronson

Relationships

Parent: BMC faculty, Johanna Jalowetz

Parent:BMC faculty, Heinrich Jalowetz

Sister: BMC faculty, Trude Guermonprez

Asheville Art Museum Collection

Writings about Lisa can be seen in digitized college bulletins on Asheville Art Museum's collection website: collection.ashevilleart.org. They can be found by searching these accession numbers:

2017.40.022 April 1943 bulletin,

"Lisa Jalowetz is now working with Designer Boris Aronson on “The Family”, a Broadway show. Earlier in the year she designed the settings for the New School production of Bernard Shaw’s “Arms and the Man” and the Neighborhood Playhouse production of Thorton Wilder’s “The Happy Journey” and “The Long Christmas Dinner”."

2017.40.214 March 1946 bulletin,

"Dr. Jalowetz leaves also two daughters. Lisa Aronson, who studied at Black Mountain College, is working together with her husband as stage designer in New York City. She came to attend the funeral of her father and stayed for a week with her mother. The older daughter, a weaver and textile designer lives at present in Holland, where her husband worked and died as a member of the Dutch underground during the Nazi occupation."

Black Mountain College Project

Mary Emma Harris interviewed Lisa in 2000 (transcript) and 2006 (transcript) which are available from Appalachian State University under The Mary Emma Harris and Black Mountain College Project, Inc. Oral History collection.

Topics 2000: Immigration to United States – arrival at BMC and first impression – strong individuals in BMC community – Jalowetz family – Josef Albers classes– first train trip to BMC – family background in Europe and Schoenberg circle – art studies in Europe – Robert de Niro – cliques at BMC – student study – John Evarts – Robert Wunsch theater productions – Lake Eden summer resort – Johanna Jalowetz – BMC students – comparison of BMC and European studies – BMC ambiance – mealtimes – other refugees – Ted and Bobbie Dreier – Heinrich Jalowetz family background, studies with Schoenberg, and career – escape from Nazi Germany and Austria – Trude Guermonprez Elsesser (sister) and hiding in Holland – Heinrich Jalowetz / Anton Webern correspondence – BMC conflicts – post-BMC professional career – death of Heinrich Jalowetz – difficulty in working for American designers – post-BMC acquaintances with alumni

Topics 2006: Childhood in Vienna and Cologne where father was opera conductor and member of the Schoenberg circle – 1944 Summer Art Institute at BMC – designs for Mozart operas – graduation in theater design from Max Reinhardt Institute in Vienna – life in Europe after Anschluss and student visa to Black Mountain – study at Black Mountain – sister weaver Trude Guermonprez hiding during World War II