Costume Design
1919 (designed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Costume design by Claud Lovat Fraser for Rosalind in 'As You Like It', Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 1920. The design is labelled 'Rosalind, 1st Dress (Miss Athene Seyler), Act 1, Scene 2'.
Claud Lovat Fraser (1890-1921) was an artist and designer. After a brief period spent training at the Westminster School of Art, he decided to develop his imaginative style independently and set up his own studio in London. He associated with leading figures in art, literature, and theatre. Amongst them the painters Albert Rutherston and Paul Nash and designer Edward Gordon Craig, who recruited Lovat Fraser to the committee of the Society of Theatre.
Despite poor health Lovat Fraser was commissioned in the army in 1914 but he was invalided home in 1916 to work on visual propaganda and army records. Having been demobbed in 1919, he held a successful exhibition that September at London's Mansard Gallery, featuring designs for settings and costumes for As You Like It and La serva padrona, executed for productions by Nigel Playfair at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. Lovat Fraser was one of the first designers to turn his attention to designing for a small stage, and his witty and innovative designs for The Beggar's Opera at the Lyric in 1920 were considered by James Laver 'to have inaugurated a new era in stage design' (Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 4th edn, p.305). From 1920 onwards he produced innumerable theatre designs, textile designs and book illustrations, before continued ill health lead to his early death in 1921.
Athene Seyler (1889-1990) was a British comedy actress. Having won a gold medal at RADA in 1908 she went on to make her name in various Restoration comedies produced by Sir Nigel Playfair at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in the 1920s. Later, she became well known for her appearances in the plays of Congreve, Wilde, Wycherley, and Sheridan. She was made a CBE in 1959.
Claud Lovat Fraser (1890-1921) was an artist and designer. After a brief period spent training at the Westminster School of Art, he decided to develop his imaginative style independently and set up his own studio in London. He associated with leading figures in art, literature, and theatre. Amongst them the painters Albert Rutherston and Paul Nash and designer Edward Gordon Craig, who recruited Lovat Fraser to the committee of the Society of Theatre.
Despite poor health Lovat Fraser was commissioned in the army in 1914 but he was invalided home in 1916 to work on visual propaganda and army records. Having been demobbed in 1919, he held a successful exhibition that September at London's Mansard Gallery, featuring designs for settings and costumes for As You Like It and La serva padrona, executed for productions by Nigel Playfair at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. Lovat Fraser was one of the first designers to turn his attention to designing for a small stage, and his witty and innovative designs for The Beggar's Opera at the Lyric in 1920 were considered by James Laver 'to have inaugurated a new era in stage design' (Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 4th edn, p.305). From 1920 onwards he produced innumerable theatre designs, textile designs and book illustrations, before continued ill health lead to his early death in 1921.
Athene Seyler (1889-1990) was a British comedy actress. Having won a gold medal at RADA in 1908 she went on to make her name in various Restoration comedies produced by Sir Nigel Playfair at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in the 1920s. Later, she became well known for her appearances in the plays of Congreve, Wilde, Wycherley, and Sheridan. She was made a CBE in 1959.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Pen and ink and watercolour |
| Brief description | Costume design by Claud Lovat Fraser for Rosalind in As You Like It, Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 1920. |
| Physical description | A full length design in pen and ink with watercolour used to highlight key details. The female figure is shown wearing a long, trained dress. Medieval in inspiration it has a high waistline, defined by a thick black band and is decorated with circular orange motifs. The dress is worn with a headdress which has wide serrated offshoots, similar in style and shape to palm leaves, and a thick band at the brim with three central blue stripes. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions |
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| Credit line | Given by the British Theatre Museum Association |
| Object history | Given to the British Theatre Museum Association by Athene Seyler. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Literary reference | As You Like It |
| Summary | Costume design by Claud Lovat Fraser for Rosalind in 'As You Like It', Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 1920. The design is labelled 'Rosalind, 1st Dress (Miss Athene Seyler), Act 1, Scene 2'. Claud Lovat Fraser (1890-1921) was an artist and designer. After a brief period spent training at the Westminster School of Art, he decided to develop his imaginative style independently and set up his own studio in London. He associated with leading figures in art, literature, and theatre. Amongst them the painters Albert Rutherston and Paul Nash and designer Edward Gordon Craig, who recruited Lovat Fraser to the committee of the Society of Theatre. Despite poor health Lovat Fraser was commissioned in the army in 1914 but he was invalided home in 1916 to work on visual propaganda and army records. Having been demobbed in 1919, he held a successful exhibition that September at London's Mansard Gallery, featuring designs for settings and costumes for As You Like It and La serva padrona, executed for productions by Nigel Playfair at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. Lovat Fraser was one of the first designers to turn his attention to designing for a small stage, and his witty and innovative designs for The Beggar's Opera at the Lyric in 1920 were considered by James Laver 'to have inaugurated a new era in stage design' (Oxford Companion to the Theatre, 4th edn, p.305). From 1920 onwards he produced innumerable theatre designs, textile designs and book illustrations, before continued ill health lead to his early death in 1921. Athene Seyler (1889-1990) was a British comedy actress. Having won a gold medal at RADA in 1908 she went on to make her name in various Restoration comedies produced by Sir Nigel Playfair at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in the 1920s. Later, she became well known for her appearances in the plays of Congreve, Wilde, Wycherley, and Sheridan. She was made a CBE in 1959. |
| Other number | 1964/G/41 - BTMA accession number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.1176-2010 |
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| Record created | June 29, 2010 |
| Record URL |
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