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The Costumes
Arthur Rackham designed the costumes and sets for Engelbert Humperdinck's opera "Hansel and Gretel," which had a limited run at the Cambridge Theatre from December 26, 1933 to January 27, 1934. The opera's producer Sydney Carroll and director Basil Dean, both significant figures in London theatre, thought a completely new production designed by Rackham would help give the opera an edge in a crowded market of shows running during the holiday season. Although he had decades of experience as an illustrator, he lacked familiarity with the costume design process and was forced to complete his work within a very short timeframe. He relied heavily on the more experienced designer Stella Mary Pearce to oversee the construction of the costumes and bring his project to completion.
The Berol Collection includes twenty costume designs for Hansel and Gretel in pencil and watercolor. Rackham approached the project with energy, not only drawing the figures in his designs in motion, but also specifying how the garments for characters should move. He wrote notes on the drawings, such as his reference to the "grey filmy floating draperies" of the androgynous Dew Fairy. For his black cat costume design Rackham planned out how the costume would work, drawing a cross section of the side view with the actor's body standing inside the cat's furry body. Additionally, some of the designs include an interesting "close-up" detail, such as the spectacles of the black witch or the sample dew drops meant to decorate the Dew Fairy's cloak and skullcap, accompanied with a note specifying, "Dew drops different sizes." |