{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O126877"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O126877/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH6885/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BH6885/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BH6885","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O126877/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O126877","accessionNumber":"S.251-2006","objectType":"Set design","titles":[{"title":"Rashomon","type":"generic title"}],"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\nOliver Messel won an Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Award for his set for <i>Rashomon</i>, a play directed by Peter Glenville and performed at the Music Box Theatre, New York, in 1959. Although a box office failure, the play was critically acclaimed. Brooks Atkinson praised Messel’s atmospheric set: ‘…Oliver Messel’s settings, representing the decaying Rashomon gate and a barbaric bamboo jungle are like the illustrations for a macabre legend. <i>Rashomon</i> is an incantation of things far away and long since forgotten.’ (<i>New York Times</i>, 28 January 1959).\r\n\r\nThis design is an ink and wash study of the head of a fallen statue, representing a mythical creature. It lies in a ruined temple in a Japanese forest, the setting for a dramatic encounter between a bandit and a husband and wife.","physicalDescription":"Design for the head of a statue representing a mythical creature in <i>Rashomon</i>, 1959. Ink wash and watercolour. Above is a pencil and charcoal sketch of the same head.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"charcoal","id":"AAT12862"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"wash","id":"AAT11051"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"painting (image making)","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Charcoal, pencil, ink, wash, gouache and watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006BH6885"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES356267"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"set design","id":""}],[{"text":"stage property design","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1959","earliest":"1959-01-01","latest":"1959-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.213-2006","id":"O126412"},"association":"Model"}],"creditLine":"Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"37.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"25","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"<i>Rashomon</i>, a play in two acts by Faye and Michael Kanin and adapted from Akira Kurosawa's film (1950) of the same name which in turn was based on a story by Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1915). Oliver Messel’s production was first produced by David Susskind and Hardy Smith at the Music Box Theatre, New York, on 27 January 1959. It was directed by Peter Glenville with music by Laurence Rosenthal and featured Claire Bloom, Noel Willman and Rod Steiger. Messel won an Antoinette Perry ‘Tony’ award for his set designs in 1959.\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":"Design by Oliver Messel for the head of a statue representing a mythical creature in Fay Kanin and Michael Kanin's adaptation of <i>Rashomon</i>, Music Box Theatre, New York, 1959","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.251-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"251","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 2314"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-08","recordCreationDate":"2006-08-04","availableToBook":true}}