William Constable papers, correspondence and other material

fonds

1935-2013, predominant 1935-1970

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Ephemera, Clippings

9645742

0.16 metres of textual material (1 box)
74 photographs (1 box)
1 sketchbook (64 drawings)

William Henry Archibald Constable (1906-1989) was an Australian film and stage designer, with a long career in scenic design for ballets, plays and operas in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In the late 1940s, Constable met Edouard Borovanksy, a Czech-born Australian ballet dancer, choreographer and director. After touring with Anna Pavlova's company, Edouard and his wife, Xenia, settled in Australia where they established the Borovansky Ballet Company. Constable became the artistic director of the company, responsible for the set and costume design, and beginning a long creative partnership. During the late 1940 and early 1950s, Constable produced many designs for a variety of theatre companies, many in New South Wales including the Minerva and Mercury Theatres. At the end of 1955, Constable returned to London with his second wife Tana and young daughter Diedre where he worked on many film productions as art director. He returned to Australia in 1973, by which time he was concentrating on painting, extensively exhibiting art and prints of Central Australia and the Great Barrier Reef.

Reference:
Library correspondence file
Design & Art Australia, https://www.daao.org.au/bio/william-henry-archibald-constable/biography/

By descent from William Constable to daughter Deidre (Dee) Constable.

This collection comprises letters, theatre programmes, photographs, newspaper clippings, sketches, screenplays with handwritten annotations and ephemera relating to William Constable's career in ballet, film and TV productions.

Copyright restrictions may apply:
Copyright holder:: Deidre Constable
Creative Commons license: Content is licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy Deidre Constable