Thomas Allen as Eugene Onegin
Drawing
1997 (made)
1997 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Self-portrait of Thomas Allen as Onegin in Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin.
In 1997 acclaimed English baritone Thomas Allen sketched himself in a role with which he has been closely associated. He sang Eugene Onegin in Andrei Serban’s production for Welsh National Opera in 1980, and went on to perform the role internationally. On 2 June 1986 he made his only appearance as Onegin at Covent Garden in a revival of the popular production originally directed by Peter Hall in 1971 and revived under the direction of Richard Gregson. On the night Allen was suffering from a heavy cold, but as Andrew Clements wrote in the Financial Times (4 June 1986) ‘one would have hardly suspected it either in the firmness of his singing, impeccably articulated, or the fierce concentration of his acting, presenting an Onegin whose intellectual disdain is combined with a scarcely repressed and slightly threatening physicality.’
In 1997 acclaimed English baritone Thomas Allen sketched himself in a role with which he has been closely associated. He sang Eugene Onegin in Andrei Serban’s production for Welsh National Opera in 1980, and went on to perform the role internationally. On 2 June 1986 he made his only appearance as Onegin at Covent Garden in a revival of the popular production originally directed by Peter Hall in 1971 and revived under the direction of Richard Gregson. On the night Allen was suffering from a heavy cold, but as Andrew Clements wrote in the Financial Times (4 June 1986) ‘one would have hardly suspected it either in the firmness of his singing, impeccably articulated, or the fierce concentration of his acting, presenting an Onegin whose intellectual disdain is combined with a scarcely repressed and slightly threatening physicality.’
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Thomas Allen as Eugene Onegin (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Pencil on paper |
| Brief description | Self-portrait of Thomas Allen as Onegin in Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, 1997. Pencil on paper, signed and dated |
| Physical description | Pencil drawing of Thomas Allen, head and shoulders, in jacket, stock and jabot. Signed and dated. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'Eugene Onegin / Thomas Allen / '97' (Inscribed by the artist, pencil, lower right hand corner) |
| Credit line | Acquired with the support of the Friends of the V&A |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | Self-portrait of Thomas Allen as Onegin in Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin. In 1997 acclaimed English baritone Thomas Allen sketched himself in a role with which he has been closely associated. He sang Eugene Onegin in Andrei Serban’s production for Welsh National Opera in 1980, and went on to perform the role internationally. On 2 June 1986 he made his only appearance as Onegin at Covent Garden in a revival of the popular production originally directed by Peter Hall in 1971 and revived under the direction of Richard Gregson. On the night Allen was suffering from a heavy cold, but as Andrew Clements wrote in the Financial Times (4 June 1986) ‘one would have hardly suspected it either in the firmness of his singing, impeccably articulated, or the fierce concentration of his acting, presenting an Onegin whose intellectual disdain is combined with a scarcely repressed and slightly threatening physicality.’ |
| Bibliographic reference | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | S.1724-2014 |
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| Record created | December 1, 2014 |
| Record URL |
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