17 Facts About Herman Rosse

Hermann Rosse was a Dutch-American architect, illustrator, painter, theatrical designer, and art director.

Herman Rosse won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction for the film the King of Jazz.

Herman Rosse was born in The Hague, Netherlands, and died in Nyack, New York.

The elder sister of Herman, Bertha Suzanna Rosse became a well-known Dutch painter.

Hermann Rosse studied at the Academy of Art in The Hague and trained in architecture and design at the Delft Polytechnic School and the South Kensington College of Art in London.

Herman Rosse received a medal of honor for this commission.

Herman Rosse designed sets for the Forest Theatre in Carmel, Art Theatre of Palo Alto, and The Playhouse in Santa Barbara.

Also, in 1921, Herman Rosse provided stunning illustrations for Ben Hecht's column in the Chicago Daily News; These were collected into a book titled, 1001 Afternoons in Chicago, which featured Herman Rosse's strikingly bold pen drawings.

In 1923 Herman Rosse moved with his family to New City in Rockland County, New York.

Herman Rosse was already familiar with the New York theatre world, and now became more closely involved with drama, vaudeville, musicals, and even symphony orchestras.

Herman Rosse created the sets for the Ziegfeld Follies, Casanova and The Swan, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, The Great Magoo, and Ulysses in Nighttown ; he authored and co-authored several publications and even designed a movie theatre where audiences could sit on either side of a gigantic screen.

Herman Rosse worked as the Art Director on John Murray Anderson's film the King of Jazz, starring Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra, for which Rosse's imaginative and technically innovative designs earned him the first Academy Award for Art Direction.

The Theatre Arts Monthly, a magazine that frequently showcased Herman Rosse's work, published an article on "Cinema Design" which highlighted with photographs his other films, including, The Murders of the Rue Morgue, East is West, Boudoir Diplomat, and Resurrection.

Herman Rosse worked in theatre in London and the Netherlands, taught as the Professor of Decorative Art at the Technische Hoogeschool in Delft, and designed Dutch pavilions at world's fairs in Brussels, Paris, and New York.

Herman Rosse created plans for subdivisions in several Dutch cities.

In 1948 Herman Rosse was appointed Resident Stage designer at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey.

Herman Rosse worked there for a dozen years, while editing Chapter One, the newsletter of the Greater New York chapter of the American National Theatre and Academy.