The V&A Opens New Theater And Performance Galleries In 3/09

In March 2009, the new Theatre and Performance galleries at the V&A will open to the public. The galleries replace those at the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden, which closed in 2007. The new displays will explore the process of performance, from the initial conception, through the design and development stages, to audiences' reactions. A section on costume design will include Maria Bjornson's design for Michael Crawford as the Phantom of the Opera as well as realised garments worn by performers including Richard Burton as Henry V, Adam Ant as Prince Charming and an Ossie Clarke jump suit worn by Mick Jagger. A section on set design will display models, sketches and stage props.

There will also be archive footage and photographs of well-known performances and performers including Rudolf Nureyev, Fred Astaire, Anna Pavlova, Maria Callas, Luciano Pavarotti and Daniel Radcliffe, original posters and playbills, theatrical prints and paintings. Pages from the first folio of Shakespeare's plays (1623), the only Handel promptbook in existence dating from his lifetime (1720) and the original score for Jesus Christ Superstar will be digitised so visitors can turn the pages and gain an insight into the creative process of developing a performance. The new galleries also include a space for temporary displays.

As well as our new galleries, we are also preparing a major exhibition on Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes for 2101. This major retrospective will examine the origins, development and long term influence of the Ballets Russes, to celebrate the centenary of the company's creation in 1909.

New Acquisition - Rolling Stones Lips and Tongue Logo
The original artwork of the Rolling Stones lips and tongue logo - one of the world's most instantly recognisable symbols of rock and roll - is now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, thanks to the help of The Art Fund, the UK's leading independent art charity.

The work was bought by the V&A at auction in the United States for $92,500. The Art Fund gave 50% towards the total cost of the artwork.

Designed by John Pasche in 1970, the pop art design perfectly encapsulated Mick Jagger's sensuous lips and the band's rebelliousness and has been in continuous use by the Rolling Stones ever since.

Pasche was commissioned to produce the logo after Jagger approached the Royal College of Art in London in 1969 to help him find a design student - the Stones had been frustrated by the bland designs offered by their record label Decca Records. Subsequently, Jagger visited Pasche's degree show and this led to discussions for a logo and other work for the Stones's own label, Rolling Stones Records, after the group's contract ended with Decca Records in 1970.

David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund, said: 'This iconic logo, first used on the Stones's Sticky Fingers album, is one of the most visually dynamic and innovative logos ever created. Designed in the UK by a British artist for one of the country's most successful groups of all time, it's wonderful that it has now found a permanent home in London, where the band was originally formed.'

 

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