Sketchbook thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Sketchbook

1959-1960 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Sketchbook containing drawings by Wilfred Fairclough, depicting the Royal Ballet backstage at Covent Garden, plus Covent Garden Opera in Alcina, 1959-60


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Pastel and pencil on paper
Brief description
Sketchbook containing drawings by Wilfred Fairclough, depicting the Royal Ballet backstage at Covent Garden, plus Covent Garden Opera in Alcina, 1959-60
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'W. Fairclough. / 12. Manorgate Road / Kingston-upon-Thames' (Signature. Inside cover, upper left hand corner.)
  • 'Rowney / Series A42 Sketch Book / 80 Leaves Smooth White / Sketching Paper / Made in England by George Rowney and Co.Ltd., / London W.1.' (Trade label. Inside cover.)
  • Transliteration
Object history
Although much of his life was spent in teaching and administration at Kingston Polytechnic, Wilfred Fairclough (1907-1996) was one of the leading print-makers of his generation and a master etcher, with watercolour his preferred medium of expression. This and the other sketchbooks in this gift contain sketches of the Royal Ballet and stage staff backstage at Covent Garden and provide a record of the dancers at an important stage in the Company's history and of the backstage atmosphere and the look of the theatre before the renovations of the early 1960s. Fairclough does not appear to have worked up many of the sketches into finished etchings. His family only own three etchings made after the sketches, including The Lady and the Fool and Giselle. Associated production: Coppelia, Giselle, Les Sylphides, Les Rendezvous, La Valse. Dancers: Margot Fonteyn, Merle Park, David Blair, Margaret Knoesen, Audrey Farris, Henry Legerton, Nadia Nerina, Rosemary Lindsey, John Field, Johaar Mosaval, Anne Heaton. Performing company: Royal Ballet, Covent Garden Opera.
Subjects depicted
Associated objects
Collection
Accession number
S.31-1998

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Record createdOctober 7, 2010
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