{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O128221"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O128221/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BK7975/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BK7975/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BK7975","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O128221/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O128221","accessionNumber":"S.450-2006","objectType":"Interior 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 interior design commissions included the redecoration of John Wood Elder’s Assembly Rooms (1771) on behalf of the National Trust from 1961 to 1963, which were gutted by war time bombing in 1942 and and rebuilt in 1956.  Messel attempted to recreate the original designs using scant photographic documentation.  The redecoration work included wall colours, fixtures and fittings for the Octagon and Ballroom.  Designs for a bar in the Octagon and furniture for the Tea Room remained unexecuted. \r\n\r\nDue to changing tastes in historic building restoration toward strict historical accuracy in the late 1970s, Messel’s decorative scheme was found to be inappropriate and replaced by David Mlinaric’s designs in 1979.  Of Messel's designs, only the ceiling moulding in the ballroom remains in situ.","physicalDescription":"An ink and pencil drawing on tracing paper for the central panel of the ceiling of the Octagon, Bath Assembly Rooms.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Messel, Oliver Hilary Sambourne","id":"A4929"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Tracing paper","id":"AAT14161"},{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Ink and pencil on tracing paper","categories":[{"text":"Interiors","id":"THES48933"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2006BK7975"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"008","id":"THES356286"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"interior design","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Bath","id":"x28738"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1961-1963","earliest":"1961-01-01","latest":"1963-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed","id":"x29338"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"S.451-2006","id":"O128216"},"association":"Part"},{"object":{"text":"S.449-2006","id":"O128210"},"association":"Depiction"}],"creditLine":"Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"42.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"50.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","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 ink on the front of the sheet."},{"content":"'Detail for Centre panel for ceiling of Octagon. / Composed out of details from / second panels. of Ball room ceiling. / with centre medallion straight acanthus, boss detail of third panels in Ball Room.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Ink inscription on the front of the design."}],"objectHistory":"Messel’s redecoration of John Wood Elder’s Assembly Rooms (1771) which were rebuilt in 1956 following a fire in 1942.  The redecoration included wall colours, mirrors for the Octagon and Ballroom, furniture for the Tea Room and a bar for the Octagon (Messel’s furniture and bar designs were never executed).  Messel’s decorative scheme was replaced by designs by David Mlinaric in 1979.  \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 for a central panel detail in the Octagon, Bath Assembly Rooms, by Oliver Messel 1961-1963.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Pinkham, Roger (ed.) <i>Oliver Messel</i>, London, V&A, 1983","id":"AUTH353280"},"details":"81b","free":""}],"production":"Reason For Production: Commission","productionType":{"text":"Design","id":"THES48872"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Assembly Rooms (Bath, England)","id":"N5125"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.450-2006"],"accessionNumberNum":"450","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":2006,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"TM Rotation Number","id":"THES50368"},"number":"ROT 4506"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2006-10-03","availableToBook":true}}