Costume Design
1952 (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.
Messel created costumes and sets inspired by late 19th-century French art for Dodie Smith’s play, Letter from Paris (1952). Adapted from Henry James’s novel, The Reverberator (1908), the play explores the clash between American and aristocratic European values in late 19th-century Paris. The production received a lukewarm reaction from critics and ran for only three weeks.
Naïve and charming, American Francie Dosson hopes to marry a sophisticated European, Gaston Probert, but tactlessly tells an American reporter about the Probert family secrets and her hopes are dashed. Messel’s colour palette for the dress relies heavily on neutral black and white with shots of brighter colour, like the paintings of Édouard Manet (1832-1883).
Messel created costumes and sets inspired by late 19th-century French art for Dodie Smith’s play, Letter from Paris (1952). Adapted from Henry James’s novel, The Reverberator (1908), the play explores the clash between American and aristocratic European values in late 19th-century Paris. The production received a lukewarm reaction from critics and ran for only three weeks.
Naïve and charming, American Francie Dosson hopes to marry a sophisticated European, Gaston Probert, but tactlessly tells an American reporter about the Probert family secrets and her hopes are dashed. Messel’s colour palette for the dress relies heavily on neutral black and white with shots of brighter colour, like the paintings of Édouard Manet (1832-1883).
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Charcoal, ink, wash, pencil, gouache, paint and watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Costume design by Oliver Messel for Francie Dosson in Letter from Paris, 1952. |
| Physical description | A costume design by Oliver Messel for Francie Dosson in a H.M. Tennent production of Letter from Paris, 1952. A full length view of a woman in Victorian dress, with white skirt overlaid with black overskirt. Orange and pink pieces of material in a bow at the back. Fabric samples pinned on the sheet on the right. |
| 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 | Letter from Paris, a play by Dodie Smith adapted from a novel by Henry James, The Reverberator (1908). Oliver Messel’s production was first produced by H. M. Tennent Productions Ltd. at the Aldwych Theatre, London on 10 October, 1952. It was directed by Peter Glenville with music by Ronald Emanuel and featured Brenda Bruce as Francis Dosson and Nicholas Phipps as Charles Waterlow. 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. Messel created costumes and sets inspired by late 19th-century French art for Dodie Smith’s play, Letter from Paris (1952). Adapted from Henry James’s novel, The Reverberator (1908), the play explores the clash between American and aristocratic European values in late 19th-century Paris. The production received a lukewarm reaction from critics and ran for only three weeks. Naïve and charming, American Francie Dosson hopes to marry a sophisticated European, Gaston Probert, but tactlessly tells an American reporter about the Probert family secrets and her hopes are dashed. Messel’s colour palette for the dress relies heavily on neutral black and white with shots of brighter colour, like the paintings of Édouard Manet (1832-1883). |
| Bibliographic reference | Pinkham, Roger (ed.) Oliver Messel, London, V&A, 1983
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| Other number | ROT 1588 - TM Rotation Number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.141-2006 |
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| Record created | June 16, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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