{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O166043"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O166043/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BY0156/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BY0156/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009BY0156","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O166043","accessionNumber":"S.1052-1983","objectType":"Set design","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Jocelyn Herbert (1917-2003) trained at the London Theatre Studio run by Michel Saint Denis and George Devine, graduating in 1938. The outbreak of war, and the demands of marriage and a family, prevented her from taking up a design career immediately, but in 1956 she joined Devine at the Royal Court  Theatre as a staff scene painter and in 1957 designed her first Royal Court production, Ionesco's <i>The Chairs</i>. She worked with Devine for ten years and her minimal settings, in which realistic details were placed within simplified settings, revolutionised post-war stage design. Her work was seen at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the National Theatre, where her designs for Peter Hall's productions of <i>The Oresteia</i> (1981) and <i>The Oedipus Plays</i> (1996), using full masks, were much admired.\r\n\r\nHerbert designed the first English production of Samuel Beckett's play, <i>Happy Days</i>, which was directed by George Devine at the  Royal Court.  Brenda Bruce played Winnie, trapped in a mound of scorched earth but maintaining her optimism against the odds.  Jocelyn Herbert later admitted that she was never happy with her design for the mound.  To create the unbroken plain specified by Beckett she drew sand dunes receding into the distance, but in the theatre the perspective could only be seen properly from the circle as the mound got in the way.  This was not the only aspect of the set to prove problematic. Beckett imagined Winnie under an 'azure' sky, but Herbert did not think that the yellow earth of her design worked with a bright blue backcloth. She made a sketch with an orange sky and sent it to Beckett, explaining that orange suggested concentrated heat. Beckett agreed. The word 'azure' no longer appears in the play.","physicalDescription":"Expanse of sand under an orange sky. At centre a blonde woman in a pink dress, buried up to her bosom in the sand. To her left a black handbag, to her right the head of a man facing to back. He wears a yellow boater and reads a newspaper.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Herbert, Jocelyn","id":"A2967"},"association":{"text":"set designer","id":"x33230"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pencil","id":"x30347"},{"text":"watercolour","id":"x33202"},{"text":"gouache","id":"AAT70114"},{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"painting (image-making)","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pencil, watercolour and gouache on paper","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2009BY0156"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"004","id":"THES356652"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"set design","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1962","earliest":"1962-01-01","latest":"1962-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"30","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"unmounted","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"33","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Set design by Jocelyn Herbert for Samuel Beckett's play <i>Happy Days</i>, directed by George Devine, Royal Court Theatre, 1962. This was the first production of the play in English.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Set design by Jocelyn Herbert for Samuel Beckett's play <i>Happy Days</i>, Royal Court Theatre, 1962.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"2\r\nSet design for Happy Days\r\n1962\n\r\nBeckett pictured his character Winnie trapped in a\r\nmound of scorched earth under an ‘azure’ sky. Jocelyn\r\nHerbert did not think yellow earth worked with a bright\r\nblue backcloth. She made a sketch with an orange\r\nsky and sent it to Beckett, explaining that orange\r\nsuggested concentrated heat. Beckett agreed. The word\r\n‘azure’ no longer appears in the play.\n\r\nPlay by Samuel Beckett, 1961\r\nRoyal Court Theatre, London\n\r\nPencil, watercolour and gouache on paper\r\nDesigned and painted by Jocelyn Herbert (1917-2003)\r\nMuseum no. S.1052–1983","date":{"text":"March 2009 - September 2013","earliest":"2009-03-01","latest":"2013-09-30"}}],"partNumbers":["S.1052-1983"],"accessionNumberNum":"1052","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1983,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LN8208","2019LR0883","2019LU6435","2019LU1318"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-19","recordCreationDate":"2008-08-14","availableToBook":true}}