{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O125259"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O125259/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH6980/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH6980/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BH6980","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O125259/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O125259","accessionNumber":"S.137-2006","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 created costumes and sets inspired by late 19th-century French art for Dodie Smith’s play, <i>Letter from Paris</i> (1952).  Adapted from Henry James’s novel, <i>The Reverberator</i> (1908), the play explores the clash between American and aristocratic European values in late 19th-century Paris.  The production received a lukewarm reaction from critics and ran for only three weeks.\r\n\r\nMessel conjures up a Parisian scenic view of an arch as a  backcloth, a piece of cloth hanging at the back of the stage.  Critics praised the settings: ‘The Messel sets give a pleasant sense of a Paris full of yellow carriages, tinkling bells, smells of fish and burned sugar, bandboxes with American labels, and studios of American pre-Impressionist painters.’  (<i>Guardian</i>, October 14 1952)","physicalDescription":"A set design by Oliver Messel for a painted backdrop with arch in a H.M. Tennent production of Letter from Paris, 1952.  A watercolour painting of a classical arch with rusticated details and statuary, and leaf foliage.  Trees on either side. Set against a turquoise sky.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"charcoal","id":"AAT12862"},{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting (image making)","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"drawing (image making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Charcoal,  gouache and watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006BH6980"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES356270"},"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":"1952","earliest":"1952-01-01","latest":"1952-12-31"},"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":"35.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"50.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Letter from Paris'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Pencil inscription on the back of the sheet."},{"content":"'Sc. 2. Cut cloth 1.  ... for drawing ... [indescipherable]","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Pencil inscription on the reverse of the sheet."}],"objectHistory":"<i>Letter from Paris</i>, a play by Dodie Smith adapted from a novel by Henry James, <i>The Reverberator</i> (1908).  Oliver Messel’s production was first produced by H. M. Tennent Productions Ltd. at the Aldwych Theatre, London on 10 October, 1952.  It  was directed by Peter Glenville with music by Ronald Emanuel and featured Brenda Bruce as Francis Dosson and Nicholas Phipps as Charles Waterlow.  \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":"Set design by Oliver Messel for an arch in <i>Letter from Paris</i>, 1952.","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.137-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"137","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 1569"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2006-06-16","availableToBook":true}}