The CIVIL warS: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down (Original photograph of Robert Wilson on the set of the 1984 opera)

N.p.: ZDF Bilderdienst, 1986. Vintage borderless photograph of composer Robert Wilson holding a cardboard stick puppet on the set of the 1984 opera. Mimeo snipe in German on the verso.

"The CIVIL warS" was originally conceived as six movements, created in six different countries, that once premiered in their countries of origin would then be joined together into a day-long opera for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. However, after adequate funding never surfaced for the project, the piece remained incomplete and is now known only for its five completed sections. It has never been performed whole.

Originally performed at the Schnauspielhaus in Cologne, Germany, on January 19, 1984, the play would be performed again in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was to this second production that the Pulitzer Prize jury unanimously awarded the prize for drama for 1986, only to be overruled by the supervisory board.

5 x 7 inches. Fine.