Robertson, W. Graham. Costume designs for Daly's production of Twelfth night

Folger bibliographic ID: 259069
Folger call number: ART Vol. b33
Folger holdings ID: 342328

General notes

Artist: Roberstson was an English artist who began designing for Daly with the production of Tennyson's The foresters and did designs for Daly's Two gentlemen of Verona, the fairy scene of Midsummer night's dream, a one-act by Clo Graves called The knave, and Cymbeline. The costumes for Cymbeline were never produced. His costumes for Twelfth night were his second major costuming project. Roberston was not fond of his costuming work for Daly and says of it in his autobiography 'there was little satisfaction in the work. I never saw the scenery, the background for my figures, so could not judge the finished picture, seldom saw a rehearsal, the plays being brought out in New York, and often found the completed costumes very odd travesties of the original designs.' He recalls being shocked when he saw his designs for Twelfth night in the London production History: The designs were executed for the 1893 production of Twelfth night which opened at the Daly Theatre, New York on Feb. 21, starring Ada Rehan as Viola, Creston Clarke as Duke Orsino. Robertson is listed on the playbill as the costume designer. The designs for Viola show a great likeness to Rehan and could be taken for portraits. The majority of the designs are illustrated in the same volumes with photographs, by Sarony, of the finished costumes. Many vary slightly from the original design Provenance: Items are contained in extra-illustrated volumes of the Daly edition of Twelfth night, as arranged for production at Daly's Theatre, Feb. 21 1893. The volume was purchased by the Folgers from the auction of the Augustin Daly collection held through the American Art Galleries in 1900. According to the sales catalog, item no.735, the books were inlaid to folio by Augustus Toedteberg and are unique copies The drawings are for the most part full figure, with notations to the side concerning the material to be used in construction. Most are labeled with the characters name and all but a few are intitialed GR. Although there are 30 items, there are, all together, designs for 54 costumes This record contains unverified data from old cards and may contain incorrect or incomplete text. Please consult Curator for assistance Portions also available as a digital reproduction

Extended title: Costume designs for Daly's production of Twelfth night [Graham Roberston]

Daly, Augustin, 1838-1899 Rehan, Ada, 1857-1916 Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Twelfth night

artist: Robertson, W. Graham (Walford Graham), 1866-1948
subject: Daly, Augustin, 1838-1899
depiction: Rehan, Ada, 1857-1916
former owner: Daly, Augustin, 1838-1899