Alan Sievewright, Theatre/Ballet costume design, Russia theme, watercolour, 1997

Size: Frame 42 x 55 cm, drawing inside mount 28.5 x 41 cm

Condition: Very good condition.

This striking costume design by the famous theatre designer and impressario Alan Sievewright (signed by him in pencil bottom left) is annotated in pen top right. The writing in pen says that it is for The Glory of Russia and Gill, dated 29 September 1997, London, and that it is a costume for Peter Serling, as Guard to the Empress Catherine The Great, Galina Samsova. There are additions in pencil saying that it was in the presence of their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

Galina Samsova (1937-2021) was a Russian born ballet dancer, who in later life was also director of Scottish Ballet. In 1997 she moved to London, and so it is most likely she played the part of Catherine the Great.

The design is in pen and ink with body colour and gilt, and a piece of the fabric used is attached with sticky tape.  The face is well drawn and we may take it to be a portrait of Peter Serling.

Alan Sievewright (1934 -2007) was a British designer, producer and opera impresario. In collaboration with his one time production partner Denny Dayviss, they produced "a treasury of operatic performances that those who saw them would never forget." A larger than life character, he helped launch the careers of many young artists.  He began his career as a designer in London in the 1950s, training first with Balmain in Paris and later designing haute couture for high society and for film and theatre. From the 1970s, with Denny Dayviss,  he began to independently produce semi-staged performances of opera in London. A larger than life character, he helped launch the careers of many young artists and also threw parties in his flat in Hyde Park Square, London, whose guests included Marlene Dietrich, Elaine Stritch and Ava Gardner. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in later life.