Set model
- Place of origin:
London, England (designed)
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel, born 1904 - died 1978 (designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Wood, cardboard, fabric, and paint.
- Credit Line:
Acquired with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A.
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
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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.
The Country Wife (1675), a comedy about deceived husbands and unfaithful wives by William Wycherley (1640-1716), provided Messel with one of his first opportunities to design costumes and sets for a ‘serious’ drama production. First performed at the Old Vic Theatre, London in 1936, the staging of this play was somewhat controversial, given the immoral subject matter, though the acting and production won critical approval.
The set model played a key role in Messel’s creative process. After generating a series of preliminary drawings, he would cut out and colour designs on paper and card which were then affixed to a wooden frame. This set model for a garden near Horner's lodgings is enclosed in a rococo style carved and painted wooden box.
Physical description
Set model by Oliver Messel for a garden near Horner's lodgings. A Lilian Baylis in association with Gilbert Miller production of The Country Wife, 1936. The set model consists of a wooden box carved and painted in baroque decoration and a gold fringe. Velvet strips on the sides. It also includes a winged figure and plants on top of the box, sculpted in plaster of Paris over wire. The set consists of cutcloths and backcloths. The set shows a view of a garden, with topiary and a cenotaph. Small figures walk in the garden, which is surrounded by open fields and a blue sky. In front of the view of a garden, a red curtain, with candelabra hanging from it.
Place of Origin
London, England (designed)
Date
1936 (designed)
Artist/maker
Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel, born 1904 - died 1978 (designer)
Materials and Techniques
Wood, cardboard, fabric, and paint.
Marks and inscriptions
'15'
Dimensions
Height: 59 cm, Width: 54.1 cm, Depth: 21.5 cm
Object history note
The Country Wife is a comedy in three acts by William Wycherley (published 1675). Oliver Messel’s first production was first performed at the Old Vic Theatre, London on 6 October 1936. It was produced by Lilian Baylis in association with Gilbert Miller and directed by Tyrone Guthrie. It featured Michael Redgrave as Horner and Edith Evans as Lady Fidget. It was also presented at the Henry Miller Theatre, New York, 1 December 1936.
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.
Descriptive line
Set model by Oliver Messel for a Garden near Horner's Lodgings in William Wycherley's play The Country Wife, Old Vic 1936.
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
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)
Production Note
Reason For Production: Commission
Materials
Paper; Pencil; Watercolour; Ink; Card; Gouache; Paint; Wood; Charcoal; Velvet; Wire; Glue; Synthetic fabric; Perspex; Kaolinite (pigment); Masking tape; Plaster of Paris
Techniques
Drawing (image-making); Painting (image-making); Glueing
Categories
Entertainment & Leisure
Production Type
Design
Collection code
T&P
