WILLIAM BUDZINSKI (Berlin, 1875- 1950). "Stage Costume," c. 1925. Pencil, gouache and watercolor on cardboard. Possesses artist's stamp. Signed in the lower right corner. Measurements: 33 x 18 cm; 45 x 30 cm (frame). William Budzinski was a costume designer and collector from Berlin. He attended a few semesters at the Sophienrealgymnasium and then an art school. Budzinski was hired by the costume company Hugo Baruch as a costume designer. At the same time, he worked with Pauline Hallmann, the "costume designer and head of costumes" at the Apollo Theater in Berlin. From 1910, Budzinski also made his first freelance designs for the Bruno Pruschinski company, which he took over in 1912. Until 1919, Berlin stage costumes were usually purchased by actors, especially for female performers, making him one of the three best-known Berlin designers of haute couture costumes. In 1930, the "Luxus-Werkstätten Pruschinski" went bankrupt as a result of the Great Depression. William Budzinski then sold his collection of some 3,000 costumes to the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin. Today, the collection is preserved in the Museum of European Cultures. In 1999, the exhibition on William Budzinski Varieté und Revue. Costume designer and collector William Budzinski 1875-1950 took place in Berlin.