Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level D , Case MD, Shelf 13, Box B

Design

1920s (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This design is from the packaging company Willetts & Sons, which was based in London from 1910 until the 1960s. The company made paper bags, card boxes, labels and tickets for a range of different clothes stores. Sometimes they employed artists to illustrate these items.

This example was drawn by a commercial artist at the little-known Roseland Studio in the 1920s. It shows a glamorous young woman wearing a fur-trimmed coat in the latest style, together with a cloche hat. Such an image was clearly designed to appeal to fashionable customers and to reflect well on the clothes store which used it.

The V&A holds over 40 similar designs from Willetts & Sons.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pen and ink on paper
Brief description
A design by the Roseland Studio for the packaging firm of Willetts and Sons, London , showing a woman wearing a fur-trimmed coat, 1920s
Physical description
A drawing in pen and ink showing a woman wearing a knee-length coat with cuffs and collar in alternating light and dark bands of fur. The coat fastens on one side with a large button. The woman also wears a hat with a deep ribbon. There are instructions to the printers inscribed throughout.
Dimensions
  • Height: 45.7cm
  • Width: 26.2cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • '7 1/2 deep' (Handwritten and underlined in pencil along the right edge)
  • 'this is wanted' (Handwritten in pencil and circled above another inscription which reads 'No 27')
  • 'No 27' (Handwritten in ink below the design)
  • '44/127' (Handwritten in pencil, bottom right corner)
  • 'THE "ROSELAND" STUDIO.' (Printed in ink, bottom left)
  • 'GOODALL'S BRISTOL BOARD' (Embossed in paper, bottom left)
Credit line
Presented by Mrs Pamela Joan Gordon in memory of her father, George Frederick Willetts (1893-1961)
Subjects depicted
Summary
This design is from the packaging company Willetts & Sons, which was based in London from 1910 until the 1960s. The company made paper bags, card boxes, labels and tickets for a range of different clothes stores. Sometimes they employed artists to illustrate these items.

This example was drawn by a commercial artist at the little-known Roseland Studio in the 1920s. It shows a glamorous young woman wearing a fur-trimmed coat in the latest style, together with a cloche hat. Such an image was clearly designed to appeal to fashionable customers and to reflect well on the clothes store which used it.

The V&A holds over 40 similar designs from Willetts & Sons.
Collection
Accession number
E.3232-2004

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Record createdJuly 15, 2004
Record URL
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