Place de la Concorde fountain model used in making of An American in Paris: Museum Object and Cultural History
Place de la Concorde fountain model used in making of An American in Paris: date made: 1950. maker: Ames, Preston. maker: Sharaf, Irene.
The object in the museum catalogue
Model of the Place de la Concorde fountain used in the 1951 MGM film An American in Paris. The model is made of wood, plaster and papier mache, and was designed by Preston Ames and Irene Sharaff in the style of French Fauvist painter Raoul Dufy. The model was made by staff sculptor Henry Greutert at MGM studios in Culver City, California.
The fountain set model was used by production staff of An American in Paris to plan their creative strategies: by director Vincente Minnelli to plan the actors' movements and various camera angles, by actor-choreographer Gene Kelly to plan his choreography, by Leslie Caron and the corps de ballet to visualize the full-scale set upon which they would perform, by costume designer Irene Sharaff to create clothing complimentary to the scenic design, and by the lighting designer to create a lighting plot.
Materials, dates and provenance
- date made: 1950
- maker: Ames, Preston
- maker: Sharaf, Irene
- maker: Ames, Preston
- maker: Sharaf, Irene
- maker: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corporation
- Object Name: Set Model
- Physical Description: wood (overall material)
- Physical Description: plaster (overall material)
- Physical Description: papier mache (overall material)
- Measurements: overall: 107 cm x 67 cm x 64 cm; 42 1/8 in x 26 3/8 in x 25 3/16 in
- Measurements: overall: 41 in x 53 in x 34 in; 104.14 cm x 134.62 cm x 86.36 cm
- place made: United States: California, Culver City
- associated place: France: Île-de-France, Paris
- Subject: Motion Pictures
- Subject: Movie
- ID Number: 1997.0231.01
- accession number: 1997.0231
- catalog number: 1997.0231.01
- Credit Line: Mrs. Vincente Minnelli
- Data Source: National Museum of American History
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.
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