Costume Design
1955 (designed)
| 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.
Grétry’s Zémire et Azor (1771) is based La Chausée’s comedy, Amour par amour (1742), a variant on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale Beauty and the Beast (1697). This production was first performed at the Bath Theatre Royal as part of the 1955 Bath Festival. Messel's colourful, elegant and fantastic costumes and sets complemented the otherworldliness of the story.
Messel’s costume for Zander, the father of Zémire, is a colourful Asian-style costume with a luxuriant feel. The chartreuse brocade breeches and coat form a vivid contrast to the plum velvet sleeves and sash. A luxuriant blue silk over robe lined in plum and chartreuse brocade with gold filigree buttons completes the costume.
Grétry’s Zémire et Azor (1771) is based La Chausée’s comedy, Amour par amour (1742), a variant on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale Beauty and the Beast (1697). This production was first performed at the Bath Theatre Royal as part of the 1955 Bath Festival. Messel's colourful, elegant and fantastic costumes and sets complemented the otherworldliness of the story.
Messel’s costume for Zander, the father of Zémire, is a colourful Asian-style costume with a luxuriant feel. The chartreuse brocade breeches and coat form a vivid contrast to the plum velvet sleeves and sash. A luxuriant blue silk over robe lined in plum and chartreuse brocade with gold filigree buttons completes the costume.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Charcoal, pencil, gouache and watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Costume design by Oliver Messel for Zander in Grétry's opera Zémire et Azor, Bath Festival Society, 1955 |
| Physical description | Costume design for Zander by Oliver Messel for a Bath Festival Society production of Zémire et Azor, 1955. A full length view of a man in yellow breeches and jacket, with blue over robe with gold buttons. Plum lining on the sleeves of the jacket. Turban in white and gold with plum plume. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Design |
| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A |
| Object history | Zémire et Azor, an opera (1771) in four acts composed by Grétry with libretto by Marmontell from La Chausée’s comedy, Amour par amour (1742), a variant on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale Beauty and the Beast (1697). Oliver Messel’s production was first performed at the Bath Festival, Theatre Royal, Bath on 11 May 1955. It was directed by Anthony Besch with choreography by William Chappel and featured Huguette Boulangeot as Zémire and Michael Sénécal as Azor. 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. |
| Production | Reason For Production: Commission |
| 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. Grétry’s Zémire et Azor (1771) is based La Chausée’s comedy, Amour par amour (1742), a variant on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale Beauty and the Beast (1697). This production was first performed at the Bath Theatre Royal as part of the 1955 Bath Festival. Messel's colourful, elegant and fantastic costumes and sets complemented the otherworldliness of the story. Messel’s costume for Zander, the father of Zémire, is a colourful Asian-style costume with a luxuriant feel. The chartreuse brocade breeches and coat form a vivid contrast to the plum velvet sleeves and sash. A luxuriant blue silk over robe lined in plum and chartreuse brocade with gold filigree buttons completes the costume. |
| Associated object | S.511-2006 (Object) |
| 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 4145 - TM Rotation Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.339-2006 |
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| Record created | August 31, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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