Barry Kay, internationally acclaimed stage and costume designer, photographer, born 1932 Melbourne Australia, died 1985 London England





Line1





BARRY KAY ARCHIVE

London





Line2 Line3 Line4





Barry Kay - Biography - Abstract & Summaries






Line5




Home
About Us
Biography
--> Abstract
--> 1932-1955
--> 1956-1965
--> 1966-1975
--> 1976-1986
Design Opus
Photography Opus
Notes & Texts
Homage
Ex Operibus
Noticeboard
Archive Plaza
Overview
Site Map
Links
Contact



Barry Kay

Line6

Bibliographic Notes

Line66


Abstract


* Born in Melbourne, Australia, 1932
* Studied music in Switzerland and art at the Académie Julian in Paris
* Resident in London since 1956
* Painting in the early years of his career
* Set and costume designs for ballet, drama, opera and film
* Since 1973 also photography
* Senior lecturer in stage design, Croydon College of Design and Technology, London
* Died in London, UK, 1985

Barry Kay's prolific, artistic output clearly demonstrates his development and steady advancement, eventually resulting in the most innovative ideas he contributed to the performing arts. His career could reasonably be divided into three overlapping, albeit tentatively assessed, creative periods: 1. the 'early period' of seeking his orientation - lasting from 1953/54 to 1958/59; 2. the transitional 'middle period' of gradually breaking away from conventions in stage design such as painted sets - lasting until about 1964; and 3. the 'late period' during which he designed constructed sets revolutionizing ballet design - terminating with his death in 1985.

Kay's successful career in photography falls into the last period and commenced in 1973. His profound interest in human nature and characteristics found expression in the most remarkable socio-anthropological studies and documentaries, as well as in vividly and uniquely capturing stage artist acting and dancing in costumes and scenery he created.


Line7




Stage and Costume Designs Line8 Summaries

Line9


Mounted for

American Ballet Theater, New York
The Australian Ballet, Melbourne
Arts Theatre Club, London
Ballet National de Marseilles
Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris
Ballett der Deutschen Oper, Berlin
Belgrade Theatre Company, Coventry
Elizabeth West Ballet Company, [location?]
National Theatre Ballet, Melbourne
National Theatre Movement, Australia
Nederlandse Opera, Amsterdam
Royal Ballet, London
Royal Ballet, Touring Company, London
Royal Opera, London
Royal Shakespeare Company, London
Royal Swedish Ballet, Stockholm
Sadler's Wells Opera Company, London
Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, London
Sunday Ballet Club, London
Suttgarter Ballett
Walter Gore Ballet Company, Melbourne
Western Theatre Ballet, Bristol
Wiener Staatsopernballett




Line10




Pen drawing by Barry Kay costume design for Anastasia's sisters, the Grand Duchesses Maria, Olga and Tatiana in the ballet 'Anastasia' three-act version by Kenneth MacMillan for the Royal Ballet Covent Garden London 1971

Presented at

Arts Theatre, London
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
Big Top, Plymouth
City Center, New York
Coliseum Theatre, London
Dartington Hall, Devon
Deutsche Oper, Berlin
Empire Theatre, Edinburgh
Frankendael Park Festival Stage, Amsterdam
Het HOT Theater, Den Haag
Hippodrome, Bristol
His Majesty's Theatre, Perth, Western Australia
Kennedy Center, Washington, DC
L'Opéra Municipal de Marseilles
Lyric Opera House, Hammersmith, London
Lyric Theatre, Shaftesbury Ave, London
Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York
National Theatre, London
New Theatre, Oxford
Old Vic, London
Palace Court Theatre, Bournemouth
Palais des Sports, Paris
Palais Theatre, Melbourne
Princess Theatre, Melbourne
Repertory Theatre, Middle Park, Melbourne [?]
Royal Court Theatre, London
Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh [?]
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Sadler's Wells Theatre, London
Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
St. Martin's Theatre, London
Stables Theatre, Hastings
Studio Theatre, Adelaide
Sydney Opera House
Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels
Théâtre National Opéra de Paris
Theatre Royal, Adelaide [?]
Theatre Royal, Bristol
Theatre Royal, Hanley
Theatro Olympico, Roma
Union Theatre, University of Melbounre
Vaudeville Theatre, London
West-Arts Theatre, London
Wiener Staatsoper
Württembergische Staatstheater, Opera House, Stuttgart



Line11



Associated Events


Adelaide Festival
Aldeburgh Festival
Bath Festival of the Arts
Berliner Festwochen
City of London Festival
Dartington Festival
Edinburgh International Festival
Holland Festival
Spoleto Festival [?]

4uarr1


Line12



Exhibitions


Annelie Juda Fine Arts, London
The Arts Centre, Performing Arts Museum, Melbourne
Bards Gallery, London
British Council Gallery, Athens
Brummel's Gallery, Melbourne
Coliseum Theatre, London
Decor Gallery, London
Charles Spencer Theatre Gallery, London
Clune Gallery, Sydney
Contemporary Graphics Gallery, Athens
Desmos Gallery, Athens, British Council exhibition
Fisher Fine Art, London [?]
Galerie Bargera, Cologne
Galerie Hammer, Europa Center, Berlin
Galerie Jebenstraße, Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin
Galerie Liatowitsch, Basel
Galerie Proscenium, Paris
Grosvenor Gallery, London
Langton Gallery, Marina Henderson, London
Liberty's, London
Macquarie Gallery, Sydney
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
New South Wales House, London
Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
Peter Bray Gallery, Melbourne
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
South Yarra Gallery, Melbourne
State Theatre of Victoria, Melbourne [1.1]
Studio la Città Galleria d'Arte, Verona
Sydney Opera House, British Council exhibition
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Westpac Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne
Wright Hepburn Webster Gallery, New York

4uarr1a


Line12




Anastasia ² Act I

costume for Anastasia's sisters,
the Grand Duchesses
Maria, Olga and Tatiana

inverse image
feltpen on layout paper
18 x 40 cm

[DSN/Bt.AA/C-pdwg]

Exhibitions
Posthumous
Participation


Barry Kay - A Tribute (1932-1985)
Westpac Gallery in conjunction with Clifford Hocking MA at the Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, on the occasion of the 1997 Melbourne International Festival of the Arts; solo exhibition, attendance figures 20447; 16 October - 2 November 1997

Kenneth MacMillan - The Outsider
Theatre Museum London in conjunction with "International Celebration of Kenneth MacMillan"; 11 October 2002 - 06 January 2007

Stage Fright: The Art of Theatre
National Gallery of Australia; an exhibition aimed at primary school children, showcasing designs and costumes by artists represented at the Gallery’s collection of Australian Theatre Arts; Canberra 11 June – 26 September 2005; travelling to four Australian locations 9 February - 30 September 2007

Design for Dance
Royal Opera House Collections; an exhibition of outstanding stage designs for The Royal Ballet, celebrating 75 years of its history; October 2005 - July 2006

Memories in Motion
The Australian Ballet in conjunction with the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC); an exhibition commemorating over forty years of The Australian Ballet in Brisbane, featuring superb costumes from past productions, performance photographs and audio-visual presentations, including Kay's designs and original costumes for Don Quixote; Tony Gould Gallery & QPAC foyers; 22 February - 21 April 2007

4uarr2a


Line13



Public Collections

















Australian Ballet Foundation, Melbourne
Australian Ballet Society, Melbourne
Australian Council for the Arts, Sydney
British Council [1.2]
Felton Bequest, Perth, Western Australia [1.3]
McNay Art Museum, Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts, Austin, Texas
Mitchell Library, Sydney
⌈ Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Dahlem Museum - designs now kept at:
⌊ Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Kunstbibliothek / Lipperheidesche Kostümbibliothek,
National Gallery of Australia, Theatre Arts Collection, Canberra
National Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
⌈ Österreichische Nationalbibliothek - designs now kept at:
⌊ Österreichisches Theatermuseum, Vienna
Performing Arts Museum, Melbourne
Royal Opera House Collections, London
Theatre Museum, London [1.4]
University of Bristol, Theatre Collection, England
University of Calgary, Library, Special Collections, Alberta, Canada
Victoria & Albert Museum, Theatre Collections, London
Wiener Staatsoper, Ballet Archives, Vienna




Line13a





Posthumous
Appreciations


National Library of Australia, PANDORA web archive, November 2006 [1.5]
Live Performance Australia, Hall of Fame, November 2007 [1.6]




Line14







Photography Line15 Summaries

Line16





Exhibitions


Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney
British Council Gallery, Athens
Fotostiftung Schweiz, Winterthur
Galerie Palme, Zürich
Photographers Gallery, London
PPS Galerie FC Gundlach, Hamburg





Line17





Book Publications


As a Woman, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1976
Die anderen Frauen, Dieter Fricke Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, 1976
The Other Women, Mathews Miller Dunbar Ltd., London, 1976




Line18





Media Publications


'British Journal of Photography'
'British Journal of Photography', 1978 Annual
'Camera'
'Camera Work'
'Der Spiegel', Germany
'Hör Zu', Germany
'Radio TV Sverige', Stockholm
'Schöner Wohnen', Germany
'The Observer', colour supplement, London
'The Sunday Times', colour supplement, London
Trewin Copplestone, London

4uarr2




Line19







Film and Television Line20 Summaries

Line21





Assignments


Design Consultant [1.7] - Darling, movie; direction John Schlesinger; starring Julie Christie, Dirk Bogarde, Laurence Harvey; 1965

Art Director - Swan Lake, ballet, movie; direction [?]; starring Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Vienna State Opera Ballet; 1966

Production Designer - Don Quixote, ballet, movie; direction Rudolf Nureyev, Robert Helpman; starring Rudolf Nureyev, Lucette Adous, Robert Helpman; International Arts Inc; gala world première screening at Sydney Opera House; 1973





Line22




Home
About Us
Biography
--> Abstract
--> 1932-1955
--> 1956-1965
--> 1966-1975
--> 1976-1986
Design Opus
Photography Opus
Notes & Texts
Homage
Ex Operibus
Noticeboard
Archive Plaza
Overview
Site Map
Links
Contact

Aired Productions


Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC, subject [?]

Bal de la Victoire, ballet; British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC TV, "Music for You"; 1960

Don Quixote, ballet, movie version dito; broadcasting company [?]; year [?]

Isadora, ballet; Grenada TV, UK; 1982




Line22




Documentaries
Interviews


Norddeutscher Rundfunk, NDR, Hamburg, national transmission of biographical documentation of Kay's work for stage design and photography; NDR TV, Channel 1; 1978

Westdeutscher Rundfunk, WDR, Köln, producing and televising of Barry Kay - Portrait eines Bühnenbildners (Barry Kay - Portrait of a Stage Designer); WDR TV-3; 1982

ABC Australia, interview with Robert Page and subseuquent televising of Barry Kay - Portrait eines Bühnenbildners (Barry Kay - Portrait of a Stage Designer); ABC TV, "Sunday Spectrum"; 1982

4uarr3



Line23






forward to 1932-1955





Line24





[1.1]


Commission of four tapestries for the State Theatre's Grand Hall; project foiled by committee. back to text





[1.2]


In 1978, when the British Council dissolved its arts collection, Kay's designs were handed over to the Theatre Collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum. back to text





[1.3]


The Felton Bequest is no longer in existence; the whereabouts of Kay's designs are not known. back to text





[1.4]


The London Theatre Museum, a short-lived, independently operating offshoot from the Victoria & Albert Museum and Britain's only performing arts museum established with theatre-related meterials from the V&A in 1987, is defunct with effect of 7 January 2007. Its collections are now reintegrated into the V&A Theatre Collections. back to text





[1.5]


The National Library of Australia posthumously honoured Barry Kay for his artistic achievements and identified the Barry Kay Archive for conserving, preserving and archiving Kay's creations, as well as for providing public online access to them - as: "Heritage of national significance with long-term research value." As a result, the online publication of the Barry Kay Archive is retained in the Library's database of PANDORA, Australia's Web Archive, to provide independent public access to it in perpetuity. back to text





[1.6]


Live Performance Australia, the peak body for Australia's live entertainment and performing arts industry, posthumously selected Barry Kay as one of eighty theatre artists awarded a place in its newly established virtual Hall of Fame, featuring a short biography about each artist. back to text





[1.7]


The Archive holds conflicting information in respect of Kay's assignment to Darling; both design consultant and art director are recorded. It would appear far more likely for Kay to have worked together with the costume designer Julie Harris, or the set designer David Ffolkes, rather than with Ray Simm, the art director. back to text



Line25 Line26

back to About Us Synopsis, Barry Kay and Barry Kay Archive --- back to page top of Biography Barry Kay, Abstract and Summaries --- forward to Biography Barry Kay, 1932-1955

please assist the Archive in correcting or completing entries

Line27 Line28 Line29



http://www.barry-kay-archive.org/BIOGRAPHY/BG_abstract.html