{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O166973"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O166973/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BY1753/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BY1753/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009BY1753","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009BY1632","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009BY1369","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU4445","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3972","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3990","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3991","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3992","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3993","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3994","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3995","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3996","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3997","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3998","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA3999","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA4000","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA4001","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA4002","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA4003","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA4004","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014HA4005","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O166973","accessionNumber":"S.788:1 to 4-1991","objectType":"Theatre costume","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"The costume was designed by the celebrated cartoonist Gerald Scarfe for Pluto in English National Opera's production of Offenbach's <i>Orpheus in the Underworld</i>, produced at the London Coliseum in 1985. Pluto was sung by Emile Belcourt.\n\nGerald Scarfe is best-known as a savagely brilliant cartoonist, but he has designed several theatrical productions in his career as well as creating design and animation for Pink Floyd's concert tour and film <i>The Wall</i>. His first theatre designs were for English National Opera's 1985 production of <i>Orpheus in the Underworld</i>, and the blending of his talents with Offenbach's witty satire of the French Second Empire was an imaginative commission.\r\n  \r\nThe costume resembles a traditional devil rather than the classical Pluto, King of the Underworld, but it is the devil seen as a fashionable mid-19th century gentleman, which fits the period when the operetta was first performed. To achieve the effect, the tailcoat (the coat tails being literally forked tails) and hat are covered with alternating horizontal lines of red and green scales, the hat having devil's 'horns'. The green 'waistcoat', fixed inside the coat edges, mirrors the green scales, while the red trousers pick up the red. The dickey and cuffs are serrated to suggest flames and are made in red glittering Lurex fabric, which is also used to line the coat tails and cover the forked ends. \r\n  \r\nThe scales on the coat could have been drawn onto the fabric and coloured in, but the designer and maker chose the more labour-intensive route of cutting and stitching rows of scales before attaching each row individually, which makes for a more lively effect. The outline created by the stiffened and shaped tails reinforces the idea that the wearer is not quite human. The tails can be fastened onto the front of the coat, unfastened to trail behind or become a useful actor's accessory, held by the wearer. The problem, which the maker has solved brilliantly, is getting them to fold and fasten without destroying their correct shape at the back.\n\nHistorical significance: Even when theatre design had developed as a separate, taught, discipline in 20th century art schools, the English theatre occasionally still looked elsewhere for production designers.  Gerald Scarfe, illustrator and cartoonist, was in a long line of distinguished illustrators and cartoonists, including Tom Webster, Edmund Dulac and Osbert Lancaster, to make the transition to stage design.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Scarfe, Gerald","id":"A23196"},"association":{"text":"costume designer","id":"AAT163428"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Cook, Kandis","id":"A23197"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"cotton (textile)","id":"AAT14067"},{"text":"synthetic fabric","id":"x33026"},{"text":"foam","id":"AAT14639"},{"text":"lurex","id":"x32839"},{"text":"satin","id":"AAT132902"},{"text":"papier-mâché","id":"AAT14245"}],"techniques":[{"text":"sewing","id":"AAT53658"},{"text":"forming","id":"AAT53098"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Cotton, synthetic fabric, foam, lurex, satin and papier-mâché","categories":[{"text":"Entertainment & Leisure","id":"THES48959"},{"text":"Theatre costume","id":"THES268477"},{"text":"Opera","id":"THES263971"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&P","id":"THES48602"},"images":["2009BY1753","2009BY1632","2009BY1369","2006AU4445","2014HA3972","2014HA3990","2014HA3991","2014HA3992","2014HA3993","2014HA3994","2014HA3995","2014HA3996","2014HA3997","2014HA3998","2014HA3999","2014HA4000","2014HA4001","2014HA4002","2014HA4003","2014HA4004","2014HA4005"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"U","id":"THES297002"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"U","id":"THES297002"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"U","id":"THES297002"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES343892"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Theatre costume","id":""}],[{"text":"Opera costume","id":""}],[{"text":"Jacket","id":""}],[{"text":"Theatre costume","id":""}],[{"text":"Opera costume","id":""}],[{"text":"Trousers","id":""}],[{"text":"Theatre costume","id":""}],[{"text":"Opera costume","id":""}],[{"text":"dickeys","id":"AAT210060"}],[{"text":"Theatre costume","id":""}],[{"text":"Opera costume","id":""}],[{"text":"hats","id":"AAT46106"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1985","earliest":"1985-01-01","latest":"1985-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"209","unit":"cm","qualifier":"maximum dimension","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"measured on mannequin, with tails attached to front of waistcoat"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"65","unit":"cm","qualifier":"maximum dimension","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"measured on mannequin, with tails attached to front of waistcoat"},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"46","unit":"cm","qualifier":"maximum dimension","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"measured on mannequin, with tails attached to front of waistcoat"},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"430","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Hat"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"360","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Hat"},{"dimension":"Height","value":"370","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Hat"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Costume for Pluto in Offenbach's operetta <i>Orpheus in the Underworld</i>.  English National Opera 1985.  Designed by Gerald Scarfe.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Gerald Scarfe<i> Long Drawn Out Trip</i> Little, Brown 2019"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["S.788:1-1991","S.788:2-1991","S.788:3-1991","S.788:4-1991"],"accessionNumberNum":"788","accessionNumberPrefix":"S","accessionYear":1991,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Theatre costume [1]","Theatre costume [2]","Theatre costume [3]","Theatre costume [4]"],"assets":["2019LR2434","2019LP4336","2019LP0931","2019LT7186","2019LT5204","2019LT4928","2019LU6439","2019LU6228","2019LT9462","2019LV9402"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-06","recordCreationDate":"2008-09-12","availableToBook":false}}