{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1156259"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1156259/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MD2556/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MD2556/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2019MD2556","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1156259/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1156259","accessionNumber":"S.6387-2009","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain's leading theatre designer of the 1930s, '40s and '50s. He created settings and costumes for all forms of entertainment - ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue - as well as working in interior decoration and textile design. His lavish, painterly and romantic concepts were perfectly in tune with the times and earned him an international reputation.  By 1960, however, that style was becoming unfashionable, and Messel gradually abandoned theatre and built a new career designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.  \r\n\r\nMessel designed the costumes and sets for Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s film adaptation of Tennessee Williams's play <i>Suddenly Last Summer</i> (1959). It starred Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift, and was nominated for several Academy Awards, including two for Messel’s set designs.\r\n\r\nThe photograph shows Oliver Messel standing in the tropical garden he has created for the character of Mrs. Venables, played by Katharine Hepburn. Over 70 pieces of plants were used to create the sinister garden. Messel engaged Hugh Skillen, who had created head-dresses for Margot Fonteyn: 'He (Skillen) made the insect eating plants and all sorts of exotic, larger-than-life plants. I myself made banana leaves with waxed crinkle-paper and then mixed them all in with real plants. I made the vines from paper twisted round in coils and then covered them with pale green flock...'.","physicalDescription":"Black and white photograph of the set for the film of Tennessee Williams's play <i>Suddenly Last Summer</i>, 1959, designed by Oliver Messel.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"x43821"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"photographic paper","id":"AAT14190"}],"techniques":[{"text":"photography","id":"AAT54225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"photographic print","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2019MD2556"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES356213"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photographs","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"United Kingdom","id":"x29336"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1959","earliest":"1959-01-01","latest":"1959-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"20","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"25.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The film <i>Suddenly Last Summer</i> was directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz with a screenplay by Gore Vidal from a play (1959) by Tennessee Williams.  It featured Katharine Hepburn as Violet Venable, Montgomery Clift as Dr. Cukrowicz and Elizabeth Taylor as Catherine Holly. Oliver Messel was nominated for two Oscars for his set designs.  \r\n\r\nLord 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.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Black and white photograph of the set for the film of Tennessee Williams's play <i>Suddenly Last Summer</i>, 1959, designed by Oliver Messel.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Pinkham, Roger (ed.) <u>Oliver Messel: an exhibition held at the Theatre Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, 22 June - 30 September 1983.</u> \r\nLondon: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1983.  200p., ill\r\nISBN 0905209508)"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.6387-2009"],"accessionNumberNum":"6387","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2009,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 7610"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-07-10","recordCreationDate":"2010-03-16","availableToBook":true}}