“If MGM films had polish, Paramount films had a glow,” wrote historian John Baxter in “Hollywood in the Thirties.” This unique visual quality and sophistication was a direct by-product of the European influx to Hollywood in the twenties and thirties, as represented by legendary Supervising Art Director Hans Dreier.

Dreier ran the Paramount art department in the era when every studio had an in-house staff of artists and researchers to guarantee the visual authenticity of its productions. 150 original designs, by Dreier and the numerous talents he oversaw, will be on view, accompanied by final set stills, shooting scripts and scenarios, quotes from Dreier and video clips from films by directors such as Ernst Lubitsch, Dorothy Arzner, William Wellman, Mauritz Stiller, Josef von Sternberg and Rouben Mamoulian. These never-before-displayed drawings graphically provide a history of early Paramount films and demonstrate how the art department functioned under the studio system.

Born in Germany in 1885, Dreier worked with the famed UFA studio in Berlin, and EFA, Paramount's European affiliate. Arriving in the United States in 1923, Dreier was part of the first wave of German artists who emigrated to Hollywood in the 1920s. A precursor to today’s production designer, Dreier was not just an administrator but the vital creative force defining the studio’s visual style.

Exhibition curator William Jones will lead two gallery talks on Sunday, November 6 at 2 pm and at 3 p.m.  Meet in the Fourth Floor Gallery.  No reservations necessary.

Continually designing throughout his long career at Paramount (1923-1951), Dreier drew, with his own hands, many memorable, stylish and witty film designs for the sophisticated comedies, dramas and musicals of Lubitsch such as Forbidden Paradise (1924), The Patriot (1928), The Love Parade (1929) and Monte Carlo (1930). For Wellman he designed the first Academy Award-winning Best Picture, Wings (1927). His films with von Sternberg include the visual masterpieces Underworld (1927), Morocco (1930), Dishonored (1931), Shanghai Express (1932) and Scarlet Empress (1933). He also designed Mamoulian’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).

A recipient of 22 Academy Award nominations as well as consideration for The Patriot (1928) and winner of three Oscar statuettes. Dreier also hired and nurtured the next generation of talent for what became known as “Dreier’s College” of future art directors, many of whom are represented in this exhibition, including Roland Anderson, Franz Bachelin, Ernst Fegté, Wiard Ihnen, Boris Leven and others. William Ezelle Jones served as guest curator for this exhibition.