Costume design for 'King Lear'
Costume Design
1955 (made)
1955 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Costume design by Isamu Noguchi for John Gorley as Oswald in Shakespeare's play, King Lear, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company, Palace Theatre, London, and European tour, 1955.
Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was primarily a sculptor, although he was also known for designing the settings for the dance works of American modern-dance pioneer, Martha Graham. When he was commissioned to design King Lear for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company in 1955, he had little experience of costume. However director George Devine and his leading actor, John Gielgud, had been impressed by Noguchi’s work for Graham. They believed that he could create appropriate designs for a stylised staging of Shakespeare's play, which, according to the programme note, ‘would be free of historical or decorative associations so that the timeless, universal and mythical quality of the story may be clear.’
Instead of painting or sketching his costume designs, Noguchi produced little paper figures. Though subsequently mounted on paper with the makers’ notes and instructions added, the figures were designed to stand upright, and the wire strut that supported each one is still attached. The actual information conveyed by the designs is not easy for a costume-maker to interpret. The use of paper reduces everything to a flat plane, so there is no indication of weight or thickness of materials, save the lines on the hip band which indicate a rounded, padded shape - like a tyre.
Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was primarily a sculptor, although he was also known for designing the settings for the dance works of American modern-dance pioneer, Martha Graham. When he was commissioned to design King Lear for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company in 1955, he had little experience of costume. However director George Devine and his leading actor, John Gielgud, had been impressed by Noguchi’s work for Graham. They believed that he could create appropriate designs for a stylised staging of Shakespeare's play, which, according to the programme note, ‘would be free of historical or decorative associations so that the timeless, universal and mythical quality of the story may be clear.’
Instead of painting or sketching his costume designs, Noguchi produced little paper figures. Though subsequently mounted on paper with the makers’ notes and instructions added, the figures were designed to stand upright, and the wire strut that supported each one is still attached. The actual information conveyed by the designs is not easy for a costume-maker to interpret. The use of paper reduces everything to a flat plane, so there is no indication of weight or thickness of materials, save the lines on the hip band which indicate a rounded, padded shape - like a tyre.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Costume design for 'King Lear' (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Paper collage with pencil, watercolour, and wire |
| Brief description | Costume design by Isamu Noguchi for John Gorley as Oswald in Shakespeare's play King Lear, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company, Palace Theatre, London, and European tour, 1955 |
| Physical description | To right, attached paper figure with metal wire strut, in the form of a male figure in grey all-overs, the arms, neck and shoulders overlaid in black, with a brown circlet around the head. Across the shoulders is a round deep collar, from which hang two strips, one red and one brown, which extend below a rounded hip band, marked to indicate a curve and with a dagger stuck through. The one leg has a black leg guard and the left a smaller brown guard. |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Object history | The design was created by Isamu Noguchi for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company's 1955 touring production of Shakespeare's King Lear. The play was directed by George Devine, with John Gielgud as Lear. The production opened in Brighton on 6 June, then visited festivals in Vienna, Zurich, The Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin and Copenhagen, before playing at London's Palace Theatre, 21 July to 17 September. It then went to Hanover, Bremen, Hamburg, Oslo, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, and finally came to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon, 29 November to 17 December. The costumes were made by Carl Bonn and Colin Mackenzie. |
| Summary | Costume design by Isamu Noguchi for John Gorley as Oswald in Shakespeare's play, King Lear, Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company, Palace Theatre, London, and European tour, 1955. Japanese-American artist Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was primarily a sculptor, although he was also known for designing the settings for the dance works of American modern-dance pioneer, Martha Graham. When he was commissioned to design King Lear for the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company in 1955, he had little experience of costume. However director George Devine and his leading actor, John Gielgud, had been impressed by Noguchi’s work for Graham. They believed that he could create appropriate designs for a stylised staging of Shakespeare's play, which, according to the programme note, ‘would be free of historical or decorative associations so that the timeless, universal and mythical quality of the story may be clear.’ Instead of painting or sketching his costume designs, Noguchi produced little paper figures. Though subsequently mounted on paper with the makers’ notes and instructions added, the figures were designed to stand upright, and the wire strut that supported each one is still attached. The actual information conveyed by the designs is not easy for a costume-maker to interpret. The use of paper reduces everything to a flat plane, so there is no indication of weight or thickness of materials, save the lines on the hip band which indicate a rounded, padded shape - like a tyre. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.72-1960 |
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| Record created | May 14, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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