Ernst Stern

Ernst Stern (1 April 1876 – 28 August 1954) was a Romanian-German scenic designer who, through his collaborations with most of the prominent German directors of the early 20th century, helped define the aesthetic of expressionism in both the theatre and the cinema.

Born in Bucharest, Romania, to Jewish parents of Russian,[1] German and Hungarian origin, Stern studied under Nikolaos Gyzis and Franz Stuck at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich beginning in 1894.

In the late 1920s, Stern also began spending considerable time in London, where he designed the sets for Noël Coward's Bitter Sweet (1929) and Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's Ever Green (1930).

His submitted designs to Rupert D'Oyly Carte for new settings for "The Gondoliers" and "The Yeomen of the Guard" (c.1920s, dates unknown), which contain many traditional qualities at variance with his reputation for expressionism, but they were never put into production (the paintings still survive).

He also designed the displays for Selfridges for the coronation of King George VI and collaborated with Donald Wolfit on several Shakespeare productions during World War II.