BIOGRAPHY: Anthony Holland (1912-2001) made his first stage designs for the play, The Road to Rome, at Liverpool Repertory Theatre in 1933. He subsequently created sets and costumes for repertory theatres throughout Britain. After World War II he regularly worked in London's West End, and also became well-known as a designer of ice shows and pantomimes. He was considered the the doyen of costume design in London's glittering post war West End. Later in his career Holland designed operas for the Camden Festival and Sadler's Wells Theatre, before retiring from the stage in 1981.
He created outfits, such as this one, for pantomime's staged at the theatres in Glasgow and Edinburgh - and this would explain the Scottish provenance of this costume design.
There is an extensive collection of Holland's stage and costume designs in the Theatre Museum Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. This collection was donated by the artist to the museum collection in 1996.
This study was done in pencil and has colour added with quickly painted opaque bodycolour highlights, It is certainly typical on one of his costume designs. The shows a spindly figure dressed as The Prince for the pantomime Goldilocks and the Three Bear. It has some pencil annotation on the sheet - which tells us the Prince is standing outside of Goldilock's caravan. The costume features high black boots over red tights and would be worn in the finale. The actress playing the Prince was "Miss Eric" (who is unidentified but possibly a local actress playing the role). My drawing is very similar to studies in the V&A.
It is on a buff coloured paper. The paper has some light and very fine creases to the surface. This is due to the fact that the paper used for the sketches was not top quality - and was only intended to these quick jottings. Nevertheless, it displays well and is an interesting piece of British Theatrical history. I would imagine that probably dates to the late 1950s. I have taken a lot of photographs for your inspection.
The frame is 57.5 x 42 cm. The sheet size is 38 x 25.5 cm.
The study has a new acid-free mount and comes in a simple black wooden frame. It is all ready to hang on your wall. It will be sent with Parcelforce24. This will be applied to your order at the checkout.