{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O124898"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O124898/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL9915/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BL9915/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BL9915","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O124898/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O124898","accessionNumber":"S.97-2006","objectType":"Set design","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles.  His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel’s traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.\r\n\r\nMessel’s designs for <i>Helen!</i>, an opera bouffé first produced by Charles B. Cochran (1872-1951) at the Adelphi Theatre, London, on 30 January 1932, won the approval of theatre critics and secured Messel’s place as Great Britain’s leading theatre designer during the 1930s and beyond.  The costume and set designs show Messel borrowing freely from historical styles, especially Baroque and Rococo stage architecture.\r\n\r\nMessel designed an all white set for Helen’s bedroom, an unusual colour scheme for a theatre set in the early 1930s.  The canopy and walls are enveloped in fabrics, inspired by Rococo decoration.   The swans either side of the bed refer to Helen’s conception.  In classical mythology, Zeus, disguised as a swan, seduced Leda and Helen was born from an egg.","physicalDescription":"Set design by Oliver Messel for Helen's bedroom in <i>Helen!</i>, 1932.  Charcoal and pencil on tracing paper/ Helen's bed sits on a raised platform with two large pillars at the head supporting an arch. There are figures of swans either side of the bed, and a cupid hovering above the headboard.  A female figure lies on the bed.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"tracing paper","id":"AAT14161"},{"text":"charcoal","id":"AAT12862"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Charcoal and pencil on tracing paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2007BL9915"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES356272"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"set design","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1932","earliest":"1932-01-01","latest":"1932-12-31"},"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":"51.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"41.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"<i>Helen!</i>, an opera bouffé based on Offenbach’s operetta <i>La Belle Hélène</i> (1864) with libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.   Oliver Messel’s production was first produced by Charles B. Cochran at the Adelphi Theatre on 30 January 1932.  It was directed by Max Reinhardt with choreography by Léonide Massine and featured Evelyn Laye as Helen and Bruce Carfax as Paris.  Roger Pinkham has said of this production “<i>Helen!</i> established Oliver Messel as the leading designer of the period and as regards future work he was home and dry.”  (Pinkham, ed., 1983).\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.\n\nHistorical significance: Roger Pinkham has said of this production \"<i>Helen!</i> established Oliver Messel as the leading designer of the period and as regards future work he was home and dry.\"  (Pinkham, ed., 1983).","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Set design by Oliver Messel for Helen's Bedroom in Act II, scene iii of C.B. Cochran's production of Offenbach's <i>Helen!</i>, Adelphi Theatre 1932.","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":"Reason 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.97-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"97","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 959"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2006-06-06","availableToBook":true}}