10 preliminary set designs by Derek Jarman for "Jazz Calendar", The Royal Ballet, 1968.

10 set designs for "Jazz Calendar" arranged on a sheet by Derek Jarman. The drawings have been signed and annotated by the artist, indicating each scene. Three of the designs have been partially coloured with felt-tip pen. Another design has a triangle of "mother of pearl" plastic sequins glued on it.

Derek Jarman (1942-1994), painter, film-maker, stage and screen designer, writer and gay activist, trained at the Slade School of Fine Art. On graduation, he was commissioned by Frederick Ashton to design his 1968 ballet "Jazz Calendar" and by Sir John Gielgud & Sadler's Wells Opera to design "Don Giovanni" for their opening production at the London Coliseum.

"Jazz Calendar" was one of Jarman's rare excursions into ballet design. His quirky, colourful variations on body tights and "constructions" for each day of the week were appropriate both to the theme of the ballet and characteristic of the period. They heralded the arrival of a unique and individual talent.

The museum already owns five set designs and four costume designs for the ballet; this group of ten preliminary sketches complement and augment the finished designs and will be a significant and interesting addition to the collection.

The ballet, based on the children's rhyme "Mondays child is fair of face...", was first performed by the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on January
9th 1968. The music was composed by Richard Rodney Bennett, and the cast included Merle Park, Anthony Dowell, Alexander Grant, Antoinette Sibley, Rudolf Nureyev, and Vergie Derman. The work was later revived by Birmingham Royal Ballet in 1991.

The drawings were given by Jarman to David Leonard and were sold when Leonard's Dance Books shop in Cecil Court relocated in early 2001.

Reason For Production: Commission

S.653-2001