Not on display

Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Painting
1950 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Lawrence, Alfred Kingsley (painter (artist))
Place of origin
Great Britain (painted)

Oil portrait of Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois, full length. Her body faces the viewer's right but her head is turned towards the viewer's left. She stands in an interior, painted in shades of brown and black. She wears a cream-coloured evening dress and holds a glass in her right hand.

Object details

Categories
Paintings
Entertainment & Leisure
Object type
Painting
TitleVivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois in <i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i> by Tennessee Williams (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Oil on canvas
Oil Colour
Canvas
Oil Painting
Brief description
Painting entitled "Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams" by Alfred Kingsley Lawrence, 1950
Physical description
Oil portrait of Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois, full length. Her body faces the viewer's right but her head is turned towards the viewer's left. She stands in an interior, painted in shades of brown and black. She wears a cream-coloured evening dress and holds a glass in her right hand.
Dimensions
  • Height: 102cm
  • Width: 91.7cm
Gallery label
(17/12/2014)
Vivien Leigh as Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire
1950

Vivien Leigh (1913-1967) first played the role of Blanche Dubois in the 1949 stage production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Aldwych Theatre, London. Her success in the part persuaded Elia Kazan to cast her as Blanche in his 1951 film version. This painting belonged to Vivien and hung on the sitting room wall of her East Sussex home Tickerage Mill.

Play by Tennessee Williams, 1947
Aldwych Theatre, London
Oil on canvas
By Alfred Kingsley Lawrence (1893-1975)
Given by the British Theatre Museum Association
Museum no. S.92-1986
Credit line
Given by the British Theatre Museum Association
Object history
Bequeathed to the British Theatre Museum Association by Vivien Leigh.
Subject depicted
Leigh, Vivien
Literary reference<i>A Streetcar Named Desire</i>
Bibliographic reference
Ashton, Geoffrey. Catalogue of Paintings at the Theatre Museum, London. ed. James Fowler, London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1992. 224p. ill. ISBN 1851771026
Other number
1968/A/8 - BTMA accession number
Collection
Theatre and Performance Collection
Accession number
S.92-1986

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Record createdNovember 12, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O85591/vivien-leigh-as-blanche-dubois-painting-lawrence-alfred-kingsley/
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