Backcloth
- Place of origin:
Great Britain (designed)
- Date:
1964 (painted)
- Artist/Maker:
Hugo, Jean, born 1894 - died 1984 (artist)
- Materials and Techniques:
Painted linen cloth
- Credit Line:
Given by the Friends of the Museum of the Performing Arts
- Museum number:
S.110-2010
- Gallery location:
In Storage
The French artist Jean Hugo (1894-1984) produced this as one of a set of six canvases he painted for the Shakespeare Festival Exhibition, organised by the ballet critic Richard Buckle in Stratford-upon-Avon. Opened by Prince Phillip on 23 April 1964, the exhibition celebrated the quatercentenary of Shakespeare's birth and aimed to portray the world of Tudor England as it may have appeared to Shakespeare, but it was criticised for elements of gimmickry, a confusing mixture of styles, an exhibition guide that was hard to follow, and Buckle's extravagance. Nevertheless, Hugo's canvases depict Stratford in the understated, tranquil and lyrical style to which Buckle was so attracted.
Jean Hugo was born in Paris the great-grandson of the poet and novelist Victor Hugo. He was a painter, illustrator, theatre designer and author, whose artistic career spanned the 20th century and whose work brought him into contact with many of the most influential artistic figures of the 20th century including Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, Paul Elouard, Francis Poulenc, Max Jacob, Cecil Beaton and many others.
