{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O123717"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O123717/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH6976/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH6976/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BH6976","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O123717/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O123717","accessionNumber":"S.29-2006","objectType":"Costume design","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Oliver Messel (1904-1978) was Britain's leading theatre designer throughout the 1930s, '40s and '50s, mastering every aspect 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\nRichard Strauss's <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, with libretto by Hugo von Hofsmannsthal, was originally a one-act opera, written to follow performances of Molière’s 1670 comic play <i>Le Bourgeois gentilhomme</i> and first staged in 1912. The difficulties of presenting such a lengthy evening’s entertainment, which required both an acting company and an opera company, led Strauss to revise the work in 1916 so that it could be staged without the play. Glyndebourne Festival Opera presented the original 1912 opera preceded by a shortened version of <i>Le Bourgeoise gentilhomme</i> at the 1950 Edinburgh Festival, with sets and costumes by Oliver Messel. In 1953 the 1916 version was staged at Glyndebourne with new designs by Messel and these designs were used in revivals throughout the 1950s. In 1962 Glyndebourne restaged its Edinburgh Festival production with an acting company from the Old Vic and reverted to Messel’s 1950 designs.\r\n\r\nThe opera concerns a wealthy businessman who hosts an entertainment consisting of a serious opera based on the Greek myth of Ariadne and Bacchus, combined with a comic harlequinade. The Harlequin, the leading figure in the harlequinade, supplies comic interruptions during the serious story of Ariadne, who has been abandoned by her lover Theseus on the island of Naxos. Messel created a traditional multi-coloured Harlequin costume in a light blue, dark red and gold diamond pattern. ","physicalDescription":"A costume design for Harlequin in <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, 1950 or 1953.  A Harlequin figure in a diamond-patterned costume of light blue, gold and dark red, a black hat and mask and black shoes with pink socks.  On right, a pencil sketch of the bodice.  Facial features left blank.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Charcoal, pencil, gouache, paint, watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006BH6976"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES356270"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"costume design","id":"AAT163423"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1950 - 1953","earliest":"1950-01-01","latest":"1953-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"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":"37.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"25.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Oliver Messel'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Artist's signature in pencil on the bottom right-hand corner on the front of the sheet"}],"objectHistory":"Richard Strauss's <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, with libretto by Hugo von Hofsmannsthal, was originally a one-act opera, written to follow performances of Molière’s play <i>Le Bourgeois gentilhomme</i> in 1912. In 1916 Strauss revised the work so that it could be staged without Molière’s drama.\r\n\r\nGlyndebourne Festival Opera presented Strauss’s original opera with a shortened version of <i>Le Bourgeoise gentilhomme</i> at the 1950 Edinburgh Festival. Oliver Messel designed the settings and costumes. In 1953 the 1916 version of <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i> was given at Glyndebourne with new designs by Messel, and these designs were used in revivals throughout the 1950s. In 1962 Glyndebourne restaged its Edinburgh Festival production with an acting company from the Old Vic and reverted to Messel’s 1950 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&amp;A from 1981 on indefinite loan.  The V&amp;A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005.\r\n\r\nHistorical significance: Messel worked for Glyndebourne from 1951 to 1959, when he was at the height of his popularity as a designer for the stage.  His Glyndebourne designs are regarded as some of his best work.\r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Costume design by Oliver Messel for Harlequin in Richard Strauss's opera <i>Ariadne auf Naxos</i>, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1950 or 1953.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"illus. fig.62","free":""}],"production":"The design might relate to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera production of 1950 (seen at the Edinburgh Festival, and revived at Glyndebourne in 1962) or to the production at Glyndebourne in 1953. \n\nReason For Production: Commission","productionType":{"text":"Design","id":"THES48872"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.29-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"29","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 28"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-05-08","recordCreationDate":"2006-05-04","availableToBook":true}}