Australian stage designers have one dominant quality in common vitality. To this is often added a particularly indigenous quality which most forcefully reveals itself where the designs are concerned with original works by Australian playwrights, composers and choreographers. The outstanding example is Sidney Nolan's design for The Display, a ballet choreographed by Robert Helpmann. Among other works to inspire an indigenous style are Douglas Stewarťs Ned Kelly, composer J. AntilTs ballet Corroboree, playwright R. Beynon's Shifting Heart and dramatist R. Lawler's Summer of the Seventeenth Doll. European opera and drama, with a strong basis in mythology, has inspired great sympathy from some designers in Australian production. The essence of the work has been captured particularly where landscape and seascape are to be invoked. It is now twenty-seven years since the advent of Australian designer W. Constable in the theatre. He changed a long-established attitude that the designer was a secondary craftsman in the theatre. He did this with a big impressive style and with essential dedication to the special function of the stage designer in the production team. A continuing stream of dedicated designers followed - L. Sainthill, K. Rowell, E. Haxton, R. Lovejoy and D. Downing, F. Hinder, A. Church, Ph. Hickie, W. Asplin, L. Kahan, A. Fraser, T. Walton, D. Digby and W. Dickson. Such Australian expatriates as Sainthill, Rowell, Constable, B. Kay and J. Truscott, who are working in London as designers for theatre and for film, return on occasion to design for the Australan theatre. Rowell is fulfilling at present a commission to write a book on World Stage Design for an European publisher. Ballet design in Australia and elsewhere has taken notable impetus from the commissioning of leasing Australian painters. S. Nolan (The Rite of Spring, The Display) and Arthur Boyd (Elektra) have completed most significant commissions. J. S. Ostoja-Kotkowski, D. Downing, W. Dickson and F. Hinder work in the sphere of experimental stage design, particularly production, new materials, sculpture and lights.
- Wilfrid Asplin
Additional information: Born 1928 in Sydney, graduate of the School of Fine Arts. He teaches art in Sydney. His first stage design was for the Australian Polish Ballet by Ria Kuznietzov. His more important designs include his sets for Peter ond the Wolf and Coppelia. He designed the sets for the first production of Judith by E. Goossens starring J. Sutherland. In the season of 1953-54 he created the stage design for the Barber of Seville, Gianni Schicchi, II Tabarro, Madame Butterfly for the National Opera. Since 1954 he is working for the Australian puppet stage. He has designed the decor for J. Anouilh's Memories of an Author and The Theft of the Belt.
Obrázky z katalogu
- William Konstable
Additional information: Born 1906 in Eaglehawk (Victoria). Studied at the School of Arts of St. Martin in London. Member of the Royal Society of Art in London. For 15 years he was art director of the Borovansky Australian Ballet for which he designed sets and costumes for 19 ballets. His most outstanding works include the stage designs for E. Goossen's opéras at the State Conservatory of Music, for the plays of J. C. Williamson and for Boris Godunov presented by the Elizabethan Theatre Trust in Sydney.
Obrázky z katalogu
Exhibiting works
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: (Boris Godunov),
Her Majesty's Theatre
(Her Majesty's Theatre),
1966
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: (Zvířata, která nezemřela ),
(Theatre Royal ),
1942
- Wendy Dickson
Additional information: Studied art in Australia and stage design at the London Central School. During four seaons she worked for London Theatres and upon her return to Australia she joined the Melbourne University Union Theatre as stage designer. Until 1966 she collaborated with the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust. Since 1966, she works as a free-lance artist. Her most important designs include the sets for Long Day´s Journey into Nigth, The Hostage, The Ham Funeral (by Patrick White), The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Catulli Carmina and The Royal Hunt of the Sun.
Obrázky z katalogu
Exhibiting works
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: (The Royal Hunt of the Sun ),
(Atahualpa Alanlanda Adelaide Festival ),
1966
- Desmond Digby
Additional information: Born 1933 in Auckland. Studied at the School of Art at Elam in 1949-1952. He is assistant stage designer at N. Z. Players Theatre (the first professional stage of New Zeeland). After working for London theatres in 1958-1959 he moved permanently to Australia. He has created many designs for the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, mainly for operas such as Traviata; The Bat, and Cosi fan Tutte. His most important designs for drama productions include A Man for all Seasons, by R. Bolt, Shakespeare's Hamlet and Henry V. and for the plays by P. White Season at Sarsparilla and Cheery Soul. At present he is preparing the sets for Rigoletto to be produced by the Australian Elizabethan Opera Company.
Obrázky z katalogu
Exhibiting works
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: (Cosi fan tutte ),
(Her Majesty's Theatre ),
1964
- Desmonde Downing
Additional information: Born in Sydney. Graduated from the National School of Fine Arts and the School of Fine Arts of Julian Ashton in Sydney. She works for the stage since 1947. In 1962 she undertook a study tour to Europe and in 1963 to the USA. She collaborates with television and films. For the production of the Magie Flute she used for the first time in Australia a large scale projection.
Exhibiting works
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: (The Magic Flute),
Theatre Royal
(Theatre Royal),
1956, Director: S. Haag,
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: (Ned Kelly ),
Elizabethan Theatre
(Elizabethan Theatre ),
1956
- Elaine Haxton
Additional information: Bern in Australia. Studied at the New School of Theatre Design in New York, later in Sydney and London. She has designed for the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust the sets for Twelfth Night under the direction of Hugh Hunt and in 1959 for Tchaikowski' Nutcracker Suitě, in the choreography of D. Lishin for the Borovansky Australian Ballet, and in 1960 for Madame Butterfly under the direction of T. Brown for the Elizabethan Opera Company. She has also designed the sets for the ballet Cats produced by the Municipal Theatre of Bordeaux, choreography of Paul Grinwis. Her paintings are highly valued and exhibited in the major world galleries.
Obrázky z katalogu
Exhibiting works
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: (Madame Butterfly ),
Her Majesty's Theatre
(Her Majesty's Theatre ),
1960
- Frank Hinder
Additional information: Born 1906 in Sydney. Studied art in Australia and the USA from 1927-1931. He is a charter member of the Association of Contemporary Art in New South Wales. After the war he was appointed lecturer at the National School of Art and founded the puppet theatre. In 1964 he resigned from the post of head of the art department of the Teachers' College in Sydney. His excellent works include the sets for The Murder in the Cathedral, Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, Lohengrin, Saint Joan, Cherry Orchard, The Vision of Simone Machard and The Bed Bug. He is the author of a number of articles on stage design, published by the review "Stage Design" of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Obrázky z katalogu
Exhibiting works
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: (Murder in the Cathedral),
Bonython Hall
(Bonython Hall),
1960
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: (Troilus a Cressida ),
(Her Majesty's Theatre ),
1964
- Max Hurley
Additional information: Born 1938 in Stawell (Victoria). Originally he was an actor and designer in amateur theatres, later became stage designer for the Union Theatre Repertory Company in Sydney. He also collaborates with television and the Puppet Theatre of Australia for which he has designed the sets and puppets for the Explorers at present touring Asia.
Obrázky z katalogu
- Sydney Nolan
Additional information: Born 1917 in Melbourne. His first independent exhibition took pláce in 1940 in Melbourne, as a result of which he was engaged by the S. Lifar Theatre Company as stage designer. He went to Europe in 1950 and exhibited in London, at the Venice Art Biennial and was awarded the Grand Prix of the Venice Film Festival for his animated film Back of Beyond. In 1958 he received the Harkness scholarship which enabled him to study in the USA. In 1965 he returned to Australia. Among his best works are the sets for Stravinsky's Rite of Spring and for Williamson's ballet The Display. He designs for the Royal Opera House and Covent Garden.
Obrázky z katalogu
Additional information: Born 1922 in Golub, Poland.She studied painting under Olgierd Vetesco in Poland from 1940-1945, from 1946-1949 at the Academy of Fine Arts at Dusseldorf, in 1950-1952 at the School of Arts of the National Gallery in Melbourne under prof. A. Summer and W.Dargie. Her works were exhibited in Australia, New Zealand, at Whitechapel in London, in the Raymond Burr Galleries (U. S. A. 1961-1962), in the Mertz Gallery (USA) and in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Cracow. She won a number of prizes for drawings, photographs, film and television décors. She has designed over 40 sets for dramas as well as opéras and ballets. She collaborates with Dr. G. de V. Gipps and M. S. Vilson on the experimental design of polychromatic images, the audiovisual theatre and electronic painting. She has founded the experimental Theatre of Sound and Image in Adelaide.
Obrázky z katalogu
- Ronald Reid
Additional information: Born 1942 in Newcastle. After his two years of studies at the National Institute of Drama at the University of New South Wales he became the stage designer of the Old Tote Theatre (repertory theatre) of the University in New South Wales and instructor at the National Institute of Drama. In 1967 he won the Churchill scholarship for studies in Europe and the USA. His most important créations include the designs for The Deputy, Tiny Alice, Othello, The Moon of the Misbegotten, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, The Three Sisters.
Obrázky z katalogu
- Kenneth Rowell (Ken Rowell)
Additional information: Born in Melbourne. Designs sets for drama and ballet companies and for the Ballet Rambert since 1947. In Great Britain he designed for the theatre in Stratford-on-Avon (1952), for the Old Vic (1953), for the Festival Ballet Co., the Royal Ballet, Sadlerˇs Wells Theatre Ballet and Western Theatre Ballet. From 1962-1964 he devoted his entire time to painting and exihibited in several towns in Great Britain and in Australia. His paintings have been bourght by several European art galleries and can also be seen in galleries in New York, Sydney and Melbourne. Among his best theatre designs are the sets Les Sylfides, Coppélia, for Don Giovanni and the Marriage of Figaro.
Obrázky z katalogu
Exhibiting works
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: (Birds and Animals ),
Australian Ballet Co.
(Australian Ballet Co.),
1966
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: (Night of the Burning Pestle),
Marlowe Theatre
(Marlowe Theatre),
1966
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: (Macbeth),
0
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: (A Midsummer Night's Dream ),
0
- Douglas Edward Smíth
Additional information: Born in 1928 in Melbourne. In 1943-1947 he worked for the State Art Gallery in Melbourne, later as industrial designer (until 1951). Since then he is working in London as stage designer for the Cannonbury and Watergate theatres as well as for the BBC. After his return to Australia in 1959 he became the head of the art department of Australian télévision A. B. C. His outstanding designs include the sets and costumes for productioris by the Australian Victorian Ballet Guild and the Borovansky Australian Ballet.
Obrázky z katalogu
Exhibiting works
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: (Black Opal ),
(Ballet Australia Elizabethan Theatre ),
0
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: (Voyager ),
(Guild Theatre),
0
