Design
1958 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Many of Oliver Messel's best designs were for operas at Glyndebourne, the opera house built onto John Christie's private house just outside Lewes, in Sussex. His imaginative and lavish costumes and sets informed by historical styles proved an effective complement to many productions, especially Mozart and Rossini operas. He also designed programme covers, working variations on his designs for the productions on which he had worked that year. This design, for the 1958 season's programme, features Rossini's Le Comte Ory.
Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain’s leading theatre designer throughout the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, mastering every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well working in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic concepts were perfectly in tune with the times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, that style was becoming unfashionable, and Messel gradually abandoned theatre and built a new career designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.
Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain’s leading theatre designer throughout the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, mastering every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well working in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic concepts were perfectly in tune with the times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, that style was becoming unfashionable, and Messel gradually abandoned theatre and built a new career designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Charcoal, pencil, gouache, watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Design by Oliver Messel for Glyndebourne programme cover, 1958. |
| Physical description | Glyndebourne programme cover design in watercolour. Back and front covers in one sheet washed bright light green: to the left, the back cover with a sketch of a female figure in vaguely medieval dress; to the right, the front cover with a sketch of a female head with medieval headdress. |
| Dimensions |
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| Production type | Design |
| Credit line | Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A |
| Object history | The design is for the cover of the 1955 programme for Glyndebourne. The head on the front cover and the figure on the back relate to Rossini's opera Le Comte Ory which was featured in the 1955 season. 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 |
| Association | |
| Summary | Many of Oliver Messel's best designs were for operas at Glyndebourne, the opera house built onto John Christie's private house just outside Lewes, in Sussex. His imaginative and lavish costumes and sets informed by historical styles proved an effective complement to many productions, especially Mozart and Rossini operas. He also designed programme covers, working variations on his designs for the productions on which he had worked that year. This design, for the 1958 season's programme, features Rossini's Le Comte Ory. Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain’s leading theatre designer throughout the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, mastering every aspect of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well working in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic concepts were perfectly in tune with the times and earned him an international reputation. By 1960, however, that style was becoming unfashionable, and Messel gradually abandoned theatre and built a new career designing luxury homes in the Caribbean. |
| 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 4369 - TM Rotation Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.434-2006 |
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| Record created | October 2, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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