Costume design created by Kenneth Rowell for an unidentified character in an unspecified production, ca.1949

Costume design created by Kenneth Rowell for an unidentified character in an unspecified production, ca.1949. The design is executed in pencil and acrylic paint on a sheet of board. It features a full length, view of a statuesque female figure in tones of white, blue, purple and bronze and grey. She is standing with both her arms outstretched and her gaze directed downwards over her right shoulder. She is wearing and open gown with a close fitting bodice which extends into a draped train at the right side, over a straight, stiff skirt. Both the underskirt and her bodice are decorated with geometric patterns. She is also wearing a thick, circular headdress, and both this and her bodice feature dragons within their decoration, their bodices entwined around their surface.

given by Jackie Revell

This design featured as part of an exhibition at the George Gallery, in February 1950.

Costume design created by Kenneth Rowell for an unidentified character in an unspecified production, ca.1949.

Kenneth Rowell (1920-1999) began designing for dance in his native Australia in the 1940s. Following the success of his designs for Ballet Rambert's 1949 Australian tour, Marie Rambert and Laurence Olivier recommended Rowell for a British Council scholarship, and in 1950 he came to London to study. Two years late John Gielgud commissioned him to create the costumes for Macbeth at Stratford-upon-Avon and this established Rowell as a major stage designer. Based in England for thirty years, he worked as both a designer and a painter, returning to live in Australia in 1982.

S.4115-2015