Not currently on display at the V&A

Photograph

1949 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Great Britain's leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles. His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel's traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.

Anatole de Grunwald commissioned Messel to design costumes and sets for a film version of Alexander Pushkin's supernatural short story The Queen of Spades in 1949. Post war rationing meant that materials were difficult to acquire and Messel had to create 19th century St Petersburg on a shoestring budget in a small studio at Welwyn Garden City.

All the exteriors scenes, as seen in this photograph, were carefully created indoors and Messel designed a series of backdrops to depict St Petersburg.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Photographic print
Brief description
Black and white photograph of the set for the film The Queen of Spades, 1949, designed by Oliver Messel.
Physical description
Black and white photograph of the set for the film The Queen of Spades, 1949, designed by Oliver Messel.
Dimensions
  • Height: 20cm
  • Width: 25.5cm
Credit line
Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A
Object history
The film The Queen of Spades, a version of a short story by Alexander Pushkin, was directed by Thorold Dickinson and produced by World Screenplays. It featured Anton Walbrook as Captain Herman Suvorin and Edith Evans as Countess Ranevskaya.

Lord Snowdon, Oliver Messel's nephew, inherited Messel's theatre designs and other designs and artefacts. The designs were briefly stored in a disused chapel in Kensington Palace before being housed at the V&A from 1981 on indefinite loan. The V&A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005.
Summary
Great Britain's leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles. His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel's traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.

Anatole de Grunwald commissioned Messel to design costumes and sets for a film version of Alexander Pushkin's supernatural short story The Queen of Spades in 1949. Post war rationing meant that materials were difficult to acquire and Messel had to create 19th century St Petersburg on a shoestring budget in a small studio at Welwyn Garden City.

All the exteriors scenes, as seen in this photograph, were carefully created indoors and Messel designed a series of backdrops to depict St Petersburg.
Bibliographic reference
Pinkham, Roger (ed.) Oliver Messel: an exhibition held at the Theatre Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, 22 June - 30 September 1983. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983. 200p., ill ISBN 0905209508)
Other number
ROT 6606 - TM Rotation Number
Collection
Accession number
S.6382-2009

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Record createdMarch 16, 2010
Record URL
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