Not currently on display at the V&A

Polish glove puppet

Puppet
1955 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This Woodcutter puppet designed and made by Zofia Stanislawska-Howurkowa appeared in the production of Krzesiwo adapted by Hanna Januszewska from the Hans Christian Anderson story The Tinderbox, that opened at the Teatre Lalka in Warsaw on the 22nd July 1955. Adam Kilian (b.1923), the set designer of Krzesiwo, is a stage designer, printmaker and illustrator with a great interest in Polish folk art and colour who trained as an architect in Nottingham (1945-1948) before returning to Poland to study stage design at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. In 1949 he began working with the Idle Dreams Puppet Theatre in Warsaw, renamed Teatr Lalka in 1951. In the 1950s he worked on many important productions there with the puppet theatre director Jan Wilkowski who directed this production and has been associated with the theatre for over 50 years.

This Woodcutter, like the Princess (S.449-2001) is very simple yet wonderfully expressive. It is a type of glove puppet belonging to the style of European puppet theatre that developed in the mid-20th century featuring puppeteers in full view of the audience, holding their puppets in front of them. The production included music by Dobrzanski.

Stanislawska-Howurkowa's designs for the puppets for this production are held by the Theatre Lalka Archive.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitlePolish glove puppet (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Papier maché, felt, fabric, braid, metal, leather, wood and paint
Brief description
Glove puppet of the Woodcutter designed by Zofia Stanislawska-Howurkowa, from Krzesiwo, Hanna Januszewska's adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Tinderbox, Theatre Lalka, Warsaw, Poland 22 July 1955
Physical description
Glove puppet of the evil Woodcutter, with a painted papier maché face with painted moustache, felt hands and a wooden axe. He wears a hooded salmon pink tunic fastened at centre front with a daisy brooch; a petrol blue tunic with scalloped hem trimmed with salmon pink braid, a thick black belt painted with white dots, white tights and black leather boots
Dimensions
  • Height: 63cm
Credit line
Given by the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild
Object history
This puppet and S.449-2001 and S.534:1/2-2001, were used in Krzesiwo, adapted from Hans Christian Andersen's The Tinderbox, Theatre Lalka, Warsaw, 22 July 1955
Summary
This Woodcutter puppet designed and made by Zofia Stanislawska-Howurkowa appeared in the production of Krzesiwo adapted by Hanna Januszewska from the Hans Christian Anderson story The Tinderbox, that opened at the Teatre Lalka in Warsaw on the 22nd July 1955. Adam Kilian (b.1923), the set designer of Krzesiwo, is a stage designer, printmaker and illustrator with a great interest in Polish folk art and colour who trained as an architect in Nottingham (1945-1948) before returning to Poland to study stage design at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. In 1949 he began working with the Idle Dreams Puppet Theatre in Warsaw, renamed Teatr Lalka in 1951. In the 1950s he worked on many important productions there with the puppet theatre director Jan Wilkowski who directed this production and has been associated with the theatre for over 50 years.

This Woodcutter, like the Princess (S.449-2001) is very simple yet wonderfully expressive. It is a type of glove puppet belonging to the style of European puppet theatre that developed in the mid-20th century featuring puppeteers in full view of the audience, holding their puppets in front of them. The production included music by Dobrzanski.

Stanislawska-Howurkowa's designs for the puppets for this production are held by the Theatre Lalka Archive.
Associated objects
Bibliographic reference
Teatr Lalka 1945-2015. Published by Teatr Lalka, Warsaw, 2017. Adam Kilian fascinations. Published by Teatr Lalka, Warsaw, 2015
Other number
P.49 - British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild number
Collection
Accession number
S.450-2001

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Record createdSeptember 8, 2004
Record URL
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