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Textile design
Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel, born 1904 - died 1978 - Enlarge image
Textile design
- Place of origin:
London, England (designed)
- Date:
1953-1959 (designed)
- Artist/Maker:
Oliver Hilary Sambourne Messel, born 1904 - died 1978 (designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Charcoal, gouache, watercolour and ink on paper
- Credit Line:
Acquired with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A.
- Museum number:
S.400-2006
- Gallery location:
In Storage
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.
In addition to his work as a theatre designer, Messel designed textiles for the silk making firm Sekers based in Whitehaven, Cumbria. Sir Nicholas Sekers, the owner of the silk mill and a great supporter of the theatre, regularly supplied the Royal Opera House and Glyndebourne with fabrics and met Messel in the early 1950s. Both men shared a belief in exquisite craftsmanship and attention to detail. Messel’s contemporary artists, Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) and Graham Sutherland (1903-1980), also designed fabrics for the Firm.
To celebrate the Coronation of Elizabeth I in 1953, Sekers commissioned Messel to design silk brocade patterns, known as the ‘Coronation Collection’. Messel also created designs for taffeta in 1959.
