BARRY KAY ARCHIVE

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Barry Kay - Biography - 1976-1985/86

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1975

back to 1966-1975

Bibliographic Notes

1976

January 1 - 10
In Sydney, apart from taking the last shots for the T&T publication, Kay approaches the Australian Centre for Photography, proposing the idea of an exhibition to coincide with the Australian release of T&T later this year. The Centre shows a keen interest and takes steps toward preliminary planning.

Winter - Spring - Summer
Upon his return from Australia to London Kay continues producing the final photographic prints for the platemaking, prepares the layout and writes the preface to the forthcoming publication of T&T, Sydney's community of transvestites and transsexuals. Finally, he submits the title of his documentary - As a Woman. After much debate between the British and the American publishers it is decided to release the English language editions under two different titles: As a Woman (American edition, St. Martin's Press, New York) and The Other Women (Anglo-Australian edition, Matthew Miller Dunbar, London). The German publisher is following suit by opting for the translation of The Other Women - Die anderen Frauen (German edition, Verlag Dieter Fricke, Frankfurt; Austrian distribution in autumn of this year, Swiss distribution in January 1977). [5.1]

February 2 - 3
Kay meets Kenneth MacMillan in Stuttgart for discussions on designing and staging a new production of the original Berlin one-act version of Anastasia¹ [5.2] for The Stuttgart Ballet.

February 4 - March 3
In London Kay redesigns the maquette for Anastasia¹.

March 4 - 5
Brief trip to Stuttgart to deliver the maquette for Anastasia¹.

March 31 - April 14
Final visit to Stuttgart, supervising the making of set and costumes for Anastasia¹, interrupted by a couple of days in London to attend to the German translation of his preface to As a Woman.

April 14
Première of Anastasia¹; assignment scenery, costumes, properties and special effects; new staging of the original one-act version from Berlin; choreography MacMillan; The Stuttgart Ballet; Württembergische Staatstheater, Staatstheater Stuttgart.

October 18 - 31
Launching of the UK publication of The Other Women at an exhibition, showing a selection of photographs contained in this volume; The Photographers' Gallery, Soho, London. Concurrently, the German edition Die anderen Frauen, is launched at the Frankfurt Book Fair.

October 24 - November 22
On a return visit to Sydney Kay prepares and sets up an exhibition of photographs from The Other Women.

November 23
Launching of the Australian release of the The Other Women, distributed by Bookwise, Sydney; in conjunction with an exhibition of selected photographs; Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.

November 24 - December 31
For the remainder of the year, and into January 1977, Kay stays in Australia and devotes himself to his next photographic enterprise - the Tea and Sugar Train [5.3], another socio-anthropological documentary, at the same time attending to the Ocker project.

December 2 - 16
At a promotional Christmas fair and sale, held in Kay's absence at The Photographers' Gallery in Soho under the auspices of twelve London publishers, including Matthew Miller Dunbar, he once more exhibits photographs of The Other Women.

Throughout the year
Periodically, Kay lectures at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, and continues with his engagement at the Croydon College of Design and Technology; subjects include "Constructivists and the Theatre" and As a Woman / The Other Women / Die anderen Frauen (photography).

Barry Kay's assistants were mostly students recruited from theatre and arts colleges or recommended by colleague stage designers. Some of them have become stage and costume designers in their own right. Among others they included:

Peter Dougherty, Charles Dunlop, Peter Farmer, Anne Gainsford, Ella Huhn, Martin Kamer, Stefanos Lazaridis, Alistair Livingstone, Bruce Macadie, Daro Montag, Yolanda Sonnabend, Bill Weckesser, Michael Werner and Frank Wilson.

* * * * *

Professionals with whom Kay liaised in the course of his work, some of them friends, and others who were part of his life:

Peter Ackroyd, Lucette Aldous, Hardy Amies, Fredrick Ashton, Frith Banbury, Mikhail Barishnikov, Richard Rodney Bennett, Bruce Beresford, Michael Birkmeyer, Alexander Bland (Nigel Gosling), Wibke von Bonin, Arthur Boyd, Dorothy Braund, Benjamin Britten, Coral Brown, Richard Buckle, Antoni Clavé, John Copley, John Craxton, Quentin Crisp (it was none other than Barry Kay who suggested to Crisp, disheartened with living in London, to settle in New York, which eventually he did), Jonny Dankworth, Peter Darrell, Colin Davis, Judy Dench, Zoe Dominic, Violet Dulieu, Antony Dolan, Erté (Romain de Tirtoff), Margot Fonteyn, Gillian Freeman, Anne Gainsford, Nicholas Georgiadis, John Gielgud, Maina Gielgud, Walter Gore, Colin Graham, Derek Granger, Stephane Grapelli, Germaine Greer, Roy Ground, Peter Hall, Marion Countess of Harewood (née Stein; since 1973 Thorpe), Julie Harris, Margaret Harris, Marcia Haydee, Marina Henderson, Hans Werner Henze, Rosella Hightower, Clifford Hocking, Barry Humphries, June Jago, Annelie Juda, Nora Kaye (Ross), Cleo Lane, Patricia Lascelles Countess of Harewood (née Tuckwell; 1948-1957 Smith), Lotte Lenya, Maude Lloyd (Gosling), Yehudi Menuhin, Caspar Neher, Helmut Newton, Lila de Nobile, Nancy van Norman Bear, Rudolf Nureyev, Hans van Maanen, Deborah MacMillan, Kenneth MacMillan, Princess Margaret, Annette Massie, Yehudi Menuhin, Johnathan Miller, Helen Ogilvie, Michael Oliver, Andrzej Panufnik, Peter Pears, Noel Pelly, Paco Peña, Roland Petit, Gelda Pike, Peggy van Praagh, Rosa von Praunheim (Holger Mischwitsky), Lee Radziwill (Caroline Lee Bouvier) Marie Rambert, Gert Reinholm, Herbert Ross, Roy Round, Anja Sainsbury, John Schlesinger, Werner Schroeter, Lynn Seymour, Michael Shannon, Belle Shenkman, Jeffrey Smart, Yonty Solomon, Yolanda Sonnabend, Charles Spencer, Alice Springs, Roy Strong, Glen Tetley, Julia Trevelyan Oman, Ninette de Valois, Margaret Webster, Helene Weigel, Michael Werner, Elizabeth West, Joseph Wishy, Googie Withers, Peter Wright and others.

1977

January 1 - 9
Wrapping up the photographic exhibition in Sydney before returning to Europe.

January 27
Launching of the Swiss distribution of Die anderen Frauen, combined with book signing at a photographic exhibition of individuals featured in this publication; under the auspices of Fotostiftung Schweiz at Galerie Palme, Zürich.

Spring - Summer - Autumn
MacMillan invites Kay to design the scenery and costumes for the existing production of Solitaire, to be performed by the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet in London in 1978. [5.4]

Kay substancially revises his set and costume designs of the 1966 production of Don Quixote^V for the revial at the Wiener Staatsopernballett, State Opera House, followed by frequent trips to Veinna to oversee the workshops and dressmaking department.

November 12
First night of the revival (Wiederaufnahme) of the 1966 production of Don Quixote^V; assignment revised scenerey, costumes and properties; choreography Rudolf Nureyev after Marius Petipa; Wiener Staatsopernballett; State Opera House, Vienna.

1978

February 28 - March 25
Exhibition of selected photographs from Die anderen Frauen; PPS Galerie FC Gundlach [5.5], Hamburg, Germany.

March 18 - 21
Attending Amsterdam Tattoo Convention for projected photographic documentary of Body and Facade, later renamed by Kay to Changing Bodies.

April 28
Première of Solitaire; assignment scenery and costumes; choreography MacMillan; Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, The Royal Ballet's second company; Sadler's Wells Theatre, London.

July 6 - September 30
Exhibition of stage and costume designs for various productions; Decor Gallery, Knightsbridge, London. At this exhibition the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) / Theatre Collections acquires the maquettes for Anastasia³, act I, and for Solitaire.

July 19
First night of the revival of Anastasia³, three-act version; The Royal Ballet; Royal Opera House, London.

November 1
Revival of Don Quixote^V; assignment revised scenery, costumes and properties of 1966 production; choreography Nureyev after Marius Petipa; Wiener Staatsopernballett; State Opera House, Vienna.

November 23
Gala première of The Four Seasons / Les Quatre Saisons; assignment scenery, costumes, properties and special effects; choreography MacMillan; occasion "Soirée de MacMillan"; Ballet de l'Opéra Paris; Théâtre National Opéra de Paris.

November 23
Gala première of Métaboles; assignment scenery, costumes and properties; choreography MacMillan; occasion "Soirée de MacMillan"; Ballet de l'Opéra Paris; Théâtre National Opéra de Paris.

Throughout the year
Lecturing periodically at the Croydon College of Design and Technology; subjects include "Design and Music" and "The Beggar's Opera".

1979

February 27 - March 2
In France Kay sets up an exhibition of set and costume designs for The Four Seasons / Les Quatre Saisons and Métaboles; Proscenium Gallery, Paris.

March 9 - 18
Informative trip to Morocco together with MacMillan and his wife Deborah.

March 20
Kay publishes a Mezzotint cum Lithograph, a limited edition of fifty prints, depicting his set design for MacMillan's ballet Métaboles; Ballet de l'Opéra Paris; Théâtre National Opéra de Paris, premièred in 1978. [ibidem]

March 20 - April 17
Participating in an exhibition of "Four MacMillan Designers"; Decor Gallery, Knightsbridge, London.

April 9 - 16
Kay returns to Morocco for further studies.

Spring
Invited by MacMillan to design the sets and costumes for his new ballet Isadora, scheduled for 1981, Kay begins extensive research on the life of Isadora Duncan.

July 17 - August 29
In Hollywood Kay explores the possibility of holographic imagery for the drowning scene in the last act of Isadora. [5.6]

On this occasion, at the world's first female bodybuilding contest, Kay is capturing his initial series of photographs for his projected socio-anthropological documentary entitled Changing Bodies. The subject encompasses the most diversified aspects of human body modification and beautification. In his pursuit of images depicting tattooing and piercing he meets Alan Oversby, who introduces him to Richard Simonton, aka Doug Malloy. Simonton paves the way to Jim Ward, Cliff Raven and Jack Preston - all icons in their respective fields. [5.7]

Autumn
As one of several living artists worldwide, Kay is chosen by Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Cologne, for a television documentary - a professional portrait - about his work and professional engagements. At a meeting with WDR's Executive Director of Arts, Wibke von Bonin, he is introduced to the cinematographers and producers Eila Hershon and Roberto Guerra who, for the next couple of years, are following him around at home and abroad. [5.8]

December 2
'The Sunday Times' publishes Kay's photographic feature of Women Bodybuilders. The feature is syndicated and appears in the German magazine 'Bunte' (issue: week 1, 1980), in the French magazine 'Photo' (issue: February 1980), and in the South African press.

Barry Kay, Athens 1980 - mounting an exhibition with Charles Spencer (right) at the Contemporary Graphics Gallery

London 1983
photo Daro Montag

London 1981 - at his Notting Hill studio in front of a working model for the ballet Isadora

1980

January 23 - March 5
To get inspired by the genius loci of what once was part of Isadora Duncan's world, Kay sets up a temporary studio in Hollywood where he develops first ideas for the various scenes and settings of Isadora.

May 1 - 11
In Athens Kay is mounting two exhibitions, one of his theatrical works, the other of his photographic creations .

May 5 - 23
Concurrently running exhibitions - selection of stage and costume designs for productions since 1967; Contemporary Graphics Gallery, Athens - selection of photographs from The Other Women and Women Bodybuilders; the British Council Gallery, Athens.

June 5 - 15
Revisiting the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Germany with the cinematographers Eila Hershon and Roberto Guerra, who are shooting sequences for the documentary on Kay; interview with ballet director Gert Reinholm about the making and staging of The Sleeping Beauty in 1967.

August 7 - 13
For further research on Isadora Duncan Kay returns to California. There, Nancy van Norman Baer, Curator of Theater and Dance at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, arranges with The de Young Museum (M.H. de Young Memorial Museum) a private viewing for Kay: he is provided access to Loïe Fuller's original, 15m long costume she wore for the Butterfly Dance at the Folies Bergère, Paris, in 1896. Kay intends replicating the costume for Laura Connor in the role of Loïe Fuller in MacMillan's Isadora. The occasion gets documented by cinematographers Eila Hershon and Robert Guerra.

August 13 - 25
In Los Angeles Kay continues shooting images for his photographic documentary Changing Bodies.

September 12 - 22
In Paris, on behalf of the Royal Opera House, Kay personally selects and purchases the fabrics for some of the costumes for the ballet Isadora.

1981

March 1
At The Royal Ballet School in London Kay is taking his own series of still photographs of dancers wearing the costumes he designed for Isadora. The photographs will appear in a feature about the making of this ballet, written by Charles Spencer, to be published in 'The Sunday Times Magazine', and coinciding with its forthcoming première.

March 30
For their permanent collection the V&A / Theatre Collections acquires Kay's costume design for Isadora in a red scarf.

April 7 - July 26
The V&A / Theatre Collections invites Kay to participate in their exhibition of "50 Years of The Royal Ballet". On display are a selection of set designs, including set models, costume drawings he created for The Royal Ballet, and an actual stage costume for Anastasia³.

April 26
Publication of "Isadora Dances Again"; photographs by Barry Kay; author Charles Spencer; 'The Sunday Times Magazine', London (issue: April 26, 1981).

April 29 - May 16
Exhibition of set and costume designs for Isadora; Exhibition Hall, Liberty's, Regent Street, London.

April 30
Première of Isadora; assignment scenery, costumes, properties and special effects; projections, movie animation; choreography MacMillan; The Royal Ballet; The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

June 22 -30
Kay supervises the staging of sets and costumes for Isadora at The Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York.

June 28
First night of Isadora; assignment scenery, costumes, properties and special effects; projections, movie animation; choreography MacMillan; The Royal Ballet on tour; Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York.

Summer - Autumn
For next year's Holland Festival, entitled "Muziektheater", Kay begins creating a set and costumes for the Nederlandse Opera. The set is devised to serve two operas - Mirrors of the Truth and The Tell-Tale Heart - for double-billed performances. The work continues into the following year.

1982

February - March
Attending to costumes and sets of the 1969 production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for the revival at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Concurrently lecturing at the Croydon College of Design and Technology.

February 22
First night of the revival of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; assignment scenery, costumes and properties; production Rudolf Hartmann; The Royal Opera; The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

February 23
Grenada TV, UK, is airing the entire production of Isadora.

April - June
Repeatedly, Kay travels to Amsterdam to oversee the making of the set and costumes for Mirrors of the Truth and The Tell-Tale Heart. During final rehearsals he takes his own photographs of Performers and stage settings, some of them are published in the Netherlands daily press.

June 12
World premières of Mirrors of the Truth and The Tell-Tale Heart; assignment scenery, costumes and properties; direction Jan Bouws; Nederlandse Opera; première at Het HOT Theater, Den Haag; first night in Amsterdam on June 17; Holland Festival.

June 21
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR-3) televises the documentary made about Kay and his professional life under the title "Barry Kay - Portrait eines Bühnenbildners" / "Barry Kay - Portrait of a Stage Designer"; executive director Wibke von Bonin; producers Eila Hershon and Roberto Guerra.

August 7 - September 11
Kay is approached by the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Canberra, with the intention of acquiring a selection of his designs. For further consultations and discussions he flies out to Australia. It emerges that the NGA is interested in quite a substantial collection of his designs, leaving their choice to him.

August 15
ABC TV, Australia, interview with Robert Page on 'Sunday Spectrum' and subsequent televising of the documentary "Barry Kay - Portrait of a Stage Designer".

September 12 - December 7
Upon his return from Australia, Kay begins compiling a well-considered selection of his designs for presentation to the National Gallery of Australia, representing the entire spectrum of his versatile artistic talent.

December 8
A delegation of the NGA visits him at his London studio to view the selected material. Subsequently, the NGA acquires a noteworthy collection of Kay's stage and costume designs, an extensive cross selection of sketches and drawings.

Barry Kay, London 1981

Covent Garden 1981
with costume for Loïe Fuller in Isadora

Covent Garden 1981
at a dress fitting for Isadora

Melbourne 1982

Melbourne 1983

1983

January - February
Intermittently, Kay lectures on theatre-related subjects at the Croydon College of Design and Technology.

February 14 - 19
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts invites Kay to serve on the panel of jurors censoring six films for their quality of design.

February 24 - March 30
The Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne, engages Kay to design four expansive tapestries as a permanent fixture for the Circle Foyer at the State Theatre. For briefing, discussions and advising on design suggestions he flies to Australia. The work involves extensive research throughout the rest of the year.

April - July
Designing costumes for The Dance of Death, MacMillan's first-ever drama direction.

September 10 - October 29
Kay participates in an exhibition of "Theatre Designs", representing contemporary British talents; Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, England.

September 15
Première of The Dance of Death; assignment costumes; scenery Laurie Dennett; direction MacMillan; selected cast; Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.

Autumn - Winter
Kay starts designing the scenery for Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes for the Victoria State Opera Company, Melbourne.

1984

February 3
Kay publishes his edition of hand-coloured lithographs depicting the costume of Basilio for Rudolf Nureyev in the movie version of Don Quixote^F.

February 9 - March 19
Back in Melbourne Kay completes and presents his designs of the four commissioned tapestries to the Victorian Arts Centre. The committee's evident lack of direction and artistic confidence result in repeatedly requested modifications to his designs. Apparently, having lost sight of their objective, the committee is unable to reach a unanimous decision to proceed further. Inconclusively, Kay returns to Europe. [5.9]

February 20 - duration [?]
Exhibition entitled "The Creation of a Ballet", displaying Kay's set and costume designs for the stage and movie versions of Don Quixote^F with the The Australian Ballet; Performing Arts Museum, Melbourne. Coinciding with the occasion, the Museum publishes six of Kay's costume drawings in postcard format and he himself bequeathes the movie model to the The Australian Ballet Society.

March 17 - contract date
Peter Grimes; assignment scenery, costumes, properties and special effects; to be directed by John Copley; intended for the Victoria State Opera Company; to be performed at the State Theatre and under the auspices of the Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne. - The first performance is to be given during the week beginning July 22, 1985. Later in 1984 or early 1985 the Victoria State Opera abandons the production. Kay gets as far as designing what appears to be a permanent set serving all acts. [5.10].

April 18 - 19
Kay meets MacMillan in Berlin for discussion with the board of management of the Deutsche Oper Berlin to revive the 1967 production of The Sleeping Beauty.

May 20- 23
Further discussions with the Deutsche Oper Berlin regarding the revival of the 1967 production of The Sleeping Beauty.

September - October
As the Deutsche Oper Berlin is not forthcoming, MacMillan is planning a completely new production of The Sleeping Beauty for American Ballet Theater (ABT). He is asking Kay to provide affordably executable designs to ascertain ABT's co-operation. In search of solutions in meeting such criterion Kay reivestigates stage designs by Adolphe Appia, Cordon Craig and Léon Bakst.

October - December
Required to remain both cost-conscious and cost-effective, Kay devises a working model, or white model, of The Sleeping Beauty for ABT in the secessionist style, accentuating clarity through simplicity.

December 5 - 16
As MacMillan will be staging the one-act version of Anastasia¹ with American Ballet Theater in Los Angeles and New York, Kay recreates the model for this ballet. In an effort of saving exorbitant production costs ABT strikes a deal with the Deutsche Oper Berlin to buy the set and costumes. The US première is scheduled for the spring of next year.

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1985

January 13 - 20
In New York Kay liaises with American Ballet Theatre's workshops, adjusting set and costumes of Anastasia¹, one-act version, bought from the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

March 2 - 19
Kay joins American Ballet Theatre in Los Angeles to supervise dress fittings and the setting up of the scenery of Anastasia¹, one-act version.

March 12
Première of Anastasia¹, one-act version; assignment scenery, costumes, properties and special effects; period newsreel projections; choreography MacMillan; American Ballet Theater; Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles.

April 16
Barry Kay unexpectedly dies in London.

April 19 / posthumous
Kay's funeral; on this day he would have been due to arrive in New York to attend ABT's staging of Anastasia¹, one-act version, and to stay on for its first night at the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center.

April 24 - 30 / posthumous
MacMillan and ABT agree for Michael Werner, together with Kay's assistant Daro Montag, to fly to New York to complete Kay's work.

April 25 / posthumous
In recognition of Barry Kay's contributions to the performing arts Michael Werner is founding the Barry Kay Archive with the intention of preserving and encouraging awareness and appreciation of his work.

April 30 / posthumous
First night of Anastasia¹; one-act version; assignment scenery, costumes, properties and special effects; period newsreel projections; realization Werner; choreography MacMillan; American Ballet Theater; Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York. - The performance is dedicated to Barry Kay; John Taras, ABT's associate director, steps before the curtain making the announcement.

1986

May 12 / posthumous
Première of Anastasia¹; one-act version; assignment scenery, costumes, properties and special effects; period newsreel projections; realization Werner; choreography MacMillan; The Royal Ballet; The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

<<<<

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[5.1]

Initially, Kay did not find it easy striking upon a title suitably describing the nature of this kind of documentary. The Archive's founder-to-be, who initiated the first contact with a transvestite, suggested listening to the tape recordings that were made of conversations with individuals - in the hope that they would provide a clue for an apt title. Conscious of being biologically male, it soon became apparent how individuals saw and experienced themselves in a transgender role. The tapes revealed that most of them invariably started a sentence with "As a woman I would...", followed by their aspirations. Thus the title As a Woman was born. - Although, both the British and American publishers adopted this title unanimously at first, later on however, Matthew Miller Dunbar (London) had a change of mind, preferring Kay's second choice The Other Women; hence two different titles for the English language editions. back to text

[5.2]

Key to superscripted numbers and letters:
Anastasia: 1 = one-act, 3 = three-act stage versions.
Don Quixote: A = Adelaide, M = Marseilles, V = Vienna stage versions; F = Film version. back to text

[5.3]

The Tea and Sugar Train is an unpublished photographic documentary of an eight-day journey on a goods and supply train (Trans-Australian Railway), running across Australia's barren Nullarbor Plain from Port Augusta in Southern Australia to Kalgoorli in Western Australia. Here Kay captured the life of the so-called Fettlers, whose only physical contact to the outside world consist of, among others, the bank, the post office, the butcher and the hairdresser being brought to them by train to their dessert outposts. back to text

[5.4]

For the set of Solitaire Kay created a huge transparent tree, spanning across the entire stage. To reflect this idea in the model, he visited traditional glassworks in Exeter, where individual bulbous segments of the tree were specially mouth-blown in clear glass. In the model he assembled them around a trunk and branches made of Lucite. The actual stage setting consisted of inflatable PVC. His costumes for this production echoed this concept. back to text

[5.5]

Professor FC Gundlach, one of Germany's most renowned photographers, is the founder of the country's first and top-ranking gallery for photography - the PPS Gallerie FC Gundlach. back to text

[5.6]

For the drowning scene of Isadora Duncan's children in the last act Kay ambitiously envisioned the use of holographic movie images to be projected into space above the stage action and partially extending into the auditorium. In Hollywood he met with experts in the movie industry to discuss the feasibility of his objective. Following a number of failed 3-D experiments, however, it soon became clear that holography could not as yet be used as intended. Resignedly, Kay settled for conventional movie projections instead. back to text

[5.7]

For the record: In August 1979, Richard Simonton introduced Barry Kay and Jack Preston to each other at the 'Hotel Cavalier', Wilshire Boulevard, Westwood Village, Los Angeles, where Kay was staying. Simonton had arranged for Kay to take photographs of Preston. The Archive's founder-to-be, who kept a log, attended their introduction, then left the three gentlemen for the duration of the photographic session. Upon his return, he encountered Kay racing to the hotel's reception desks to call for the paramedics and Preston at the hotel room keeping guard over Simonton who, while the session was in progress, all of a sudden collapsed - fatally. back to text

[5.8]

The biographic documentaries commissioned by Westdeutscher Rundfunk covered the entire spectrum of the arts, encompassing, among others, sculpture, painting (Konrad Klapheck), architecture, stage design (Barry Kay), photography (Helmut Newton) and couture (Carl Lagerfeld). back to text to be completed

[5.9]

In designing the tapestries Kay was given total freedom in choosing a subject. He created a set of tableaux consisting of fascinating collages based on illustrations of the performing arts throughout the centuries. The tapestries were to be woven by experts in Belgium (or Belgian experts in Perth, Australia [?]). Unfortunately, his designs were never executed - according to Kay, apparently due to persisting in-house interference at the Victorian Arts Centre (since 2003 known as Arts Centre, Melbourne), an opposition he found increasingly and considerably disturbing during the creative process in the first place. The originals were never returned, and exactly where along the line they 'disappeared' could not be established to this day. back to text

[5.10]

So far, the Archive has not been able to identify whether John Copley, opera director, or Ken Mackenzie-Forbes, general administrator of the Victoria State Opera (now defunct, collapsed in 1996 due to financial difficulties), commissioned Kay to design Peter Grimes. Customarily, Kay started designing sets first, before any costume drawings were produced. Accordingly, there exist a small so-called white model, or working model, at a scale of 1:50, and a complete final set model at a scale of 1:25. It will appear that Kay provided a basic permanent set construction allowing for any act or scene changes. For as yet unknown reason the production was cancelled and the actual stage set never built. It is hard to dismiss the assumption that the same in-house interference that took place over the tapestries played a part in it. back to text

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