Sainthill, Loudon (1919-1969)

Also known as
Sainthill, Loudon (1918-1969)
St Hill, Loudon (1918-1969)
Field of activity
costume designer; painter; set designer; soldier; Painting; OTHER
NLA Persistent Identifier
http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-726080

Biographies

SAINTHILL, LOUDON (1918-1969), artist and stage designer, was born on 9 January 1918 in Hobart, second of four children of Tasmanian-born parents Willoughby Aveland St Hill, a clerk who became a commission agent, and his wife Honora Matilda, née Horder. By 1920 the family was living in Melbourne, first at Toorak and then at East St Kilda. A delicate, nervous child, with a stammer that persisted into adulthood (except when talking to children), Loudon contrived to avoid much formal schooling, though he did attend Ripponlea State School for a while. He read widely, painted and drew, and found his way into theatres and concert halls, where he saw Pavlova, heard (Dame) Nellie Melba, and absorbed performances of Ibsen and Chekhov.

View the full record at Australian Dictionary of Biography

Leading mid 20th century painter and theatre designer who lived in Merioola, Sydney, before moving to London

Artist and stage designer This artist's biography is a stub. You can help the DAAO by submitting a biography.

View the full record at Design and Art Australia Online

Loudon Sainthill was born in Hobart, Tasmania, and spent his early school years in Melbourne. He began taking art classes in the early 1930s and was drawn to the theatre after seeing performances of Colonel de Basil's Russian Ballet later in that decade. Sainthill spent considerable time with the Russian dancers. He sketched them frequently and travelled with them to England in 1939 at the end of the second tour to Australia, that of the Covent Garden Russian Ballet. He returned to Australia later in 1939 and was approached by Colonel de Basil to design Serge Lifar's production of Icare for the Original Ballet Russe. The commission eventually went to Sidney Nolan but Sainthill was later asked to work on Nina Verchinina's Etude. Sainthill's designs for Etude never went into production although they were exhibited in Sydney and Melbourne in the British Council exhibition Art for Theatre and Ballet and were publicised by critics in Australia and by Colonel de Basil writing for the Dancing Times in London.

In the early 1940s Sainthill received a series of commissions from Helene Kirsova to create costumes and set designs for the Kirsova Ballet. His work with the Kirsova Ballet included designs for A Dream - and a Fairy Tale, Faust, Les Matelots, and Vieux Paris. Also in the 1940s Sainthill served in the Royal Australian Army Medical Corps (RAAMC), began exhibiting at Macquarie Galleries, Sydney, and became a member of the artists' colony at Merioola in Sydney where his colleagues included photographer Alec Murray, artists Donald Friend and Justin O'Brien, choreographer Walter Gore and visiting artists from the Ballet Rambert. For the Ballet Rambert's Australian tour Sainthill collaborated on producing printed materials promoting the company. In 1945 he provided a collection of costume designs for an exhibition A History of Costume from 4000 BC to 1945 AD held at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, which were subsequently purchased by public subscription for the Gallery.

In 1949 Sainthill returned to London and over the next two decades designed sets and costumes for almost fifty productions of opera, ballet, film, revue, pantomime, and musical performances in England and the USA. They included The Tempest in 1951, Robert Helpmann's production of Le Coq d'or in 1954 for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and ?The Sleeping Princess' ballet sequence for Korda Film's production of The Man who Loved Redheads also in 1954.

He died in 1969 in London.

For further online resources relating to Sainthill's printed work for the Ballet Rambert tour see the National Library of Australia's online exhibition Dance people dance, 'Artistic impact (Item 7)'.

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Resources for Loudon Sainthill

Resources by Loudon Sainthill (13)

  1. Loudon Sainthill / with an appreciation by Bryan Robertson ; edited by Harry Tatlock Miller
    Sainthill, Loudon, 1919-1969
    [ Book : 1973 ]
    At 46 libraries
    Loudon Sainthill / with an appreciation by Bryan Robertson ; edited by Harry Tatlock Miller
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 47.648)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 47.648)

  2. Loudon Sainthill : memorial exhibition / Loudon Sainthill
    Sainthill, Loudon, 1919-1969
    [ Book : 1972 ]
    At 6 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 25.179)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 25.179)

  3. Loudon Sainthill : art for theatre and ballet exhibition
    Sainthill, Loudon, 1919-1969
    [ Book : 1940 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 22.115)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 22.115)

  4. Loudon Sainthill 1919-1969 : Westpac Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, 12 September - 6 October 1991 / Melbourne International Festival of the Arts
    Sainthill, Loudon, 1919-1969
    [ Book : 1991 ]
    At 6 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 18.514)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 18.514)

  5. Undoubted queen / compiled and designed by H. Tatlock Miller, Loudon Sainthill
    Miller, H. Tatlock (Harry Tatlock)
    [ Book : 1958 ]
    At 14 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.413)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.413)

  6. Churchill : the walk with destiny / compiled and designed by H. Tatlock Miller and Loudon Sainthill
    Miller, H. Tatlock (Harry Tatlock)
    [ Book : 1959 ]
    At 12 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.306)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.306)

  7. Royal album / edited by H. Tatlock Miller ; designed & decorated by Loudon Sainthill
    Sainthill, Loudon, 1919-1969
    [ Book : 1951 ]
    At 9 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.494)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.494)

  8. The Old Vic Theatre Company : a tour of Australia and New Zealand / edited by Tatlock Miller ; designed and decorated by Loudon Sainthill
    Miller, H. Tatlock (Harry Tatlock)
    [ Book : 1948 ]
    At 15 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.449)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.449)

  9. King Richard II / edited by Michael Clamp
    Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
    [ Book : 1735-2002 ]
    Languages: English, engger
    Read online at Hathi Trust
    View online
    At 33 libraries
    King Richard II / edited by Michael Clamp
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.085)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 7.085)

  10. Loudon Sainthill : paintings, drawings, designs for the theatre
    Sainthill, Loudon, 1919-1969
    [ Book : 1973 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.687)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 5.687)

More...

Resources about Loudon Sainthill (7)

  1. Loudon Sainthill / with an appreciation by Bryan Robertson ; edited by Harry Tatlock Miller
    Sainthill, Loudon, 1919-1969
    [ Book : 1973 ]
    At 46 libraries
    Loudon Sainthill / with an appreciation by Bryan Robertson ; edited by Harry Tatlock Miller
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 47.989)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 47.989)

  2. Loudon Sainthill : memorial exhibition / Loudon Sainthill
    Sainthill, Loudon, 1919-1969
    [ Book : 1972 ]
    At 6 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 25.052)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 25.052)

  3. [Biographical cuttings on Loudon Sainthill, theatre designer, containing one or more cuttings from newspapers or journals]
    [ Published : 1900-1990 ]
    At National Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 22.795)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 22.795)

  4. Loudon Sainthill : art for theatre and ballet exhibition
    Sainthill, Loudon, 1919-1969
    [ Book : 1940 ]
    At 2 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.44)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 21.44)

  5. Loudon Sainthill, 1919-1969 : an Australian theatre designer abroad / by Peter Cooke
    Cooke, Peter (Peter Robert)
    [ Thesis : 2002 ]
    At UNSW Library
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.831)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 14.831)

  6. Loudon Sainthill : set and costume designs
    [ Book : 1978 ]
    At 4 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 12.424)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 12.424)

  7. A History of costume : from 4000 B.C. to 1945 A.D
    National Art Gallery of New South Wales
    [ Book : 1945 ]
    At 6 libraries
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.322)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 9.322)

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  1. Blaxland, Helen Frances (1907-)
    ... Friend, (Sir) William Dobell, Loudon Sainthill, Elaine Haxton, Paul Jones and others ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

  2. Kirsova, Hélène (1910-1962)
    ... ballets from artists such as Loudon Sainthill, Amie Kingston, Alice Danciger and ...
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.001)

  3. Kirsova Ballet (1941-1944)
    ... . She was a significant patron of Australian stage designers including Loudon ...
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    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0)

  1. Faust (1941 - )
    Faust (1941 - )
    Created by NLAdance, 8 items.

    Helene Kirsova's Faust, a ballet in three acts choreographed for her Kirsova Ballet company, premiered in October 1941. Set to a score by Henry Krips, with decor and costumes by Loudon S...

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.002)

  2. Icare (Australian context)
    Icare (Australian context)
    Created by NLAdance, 12 items.

    Serge Lifar's one-act ballet Icare was first performed by the Paris Opera Ballet at Palais Garnier on 9 July 1935. Lifar left Paris after the outbreak of war in Europe and toured to Austra...

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

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  1. Website: Australia dancing
    www.australiadancing.org
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    View 34 matching archived pages
    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 0.279)

    This resource is very relevant to your query (score: 0.279)

  2. Website: NIDA
    www.nida.com.au
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  3. Website: Ballets Russes in Australia : our cultural revolution
    blogs-devel.nla.gov.au
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  1. Papers of Loudon Sainthill
    Sainthill, Loudon
    [ Published : 1900 ]
    Possibly online
    At Nat Gall Aus Res
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.089)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 1.089)

  2. [Loudon Sainthill : Australian Art and Artists file]
    [ Published ]
    At State Library of VIC
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.42)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.42)

  3. [Sainthill, Loudon (costume/stage designer) : programs and related material collected by the National Library of Australia]
    [ Published : 1900 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.112)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.112)

  1. [Loudon Sainthill : Australasian Art & Artists File]
    Sainthill, Loudon
    [ Book ]
    At Nat Gall Aus Res
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.738)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.738)

  2. Loudon Sainthill Archive index / compiled by Pamela Cossey
    National Gallery of Australia. Research Library
    [ Book : 2005 ]
    At Nat Gall Aus Res
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.512)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.512)

  3. Sainthill, Loudon
    [ Book ]
    At The Shaw Research
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.508)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.508)

  4. Ballet Rambert : the tour of Australia and New Zealand, 1947-1948 / edited by Tatlock Miller ; photographed by Alec Murray ; designed and decorated by Loudon Sainthill
    Rambert, Marie
    [ Book : 1947 ]
    Possibly online
    At 9 libraries
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.11)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.11)

  1. Interview with Bill Haycock, stage designer / interviewer, Michelle Potter
    Haycock, Bill, 1955-
    [ Sound : 1995 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.002)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.002)

  2. An Inventive magic : Donald Friend and his diaries : proceedings of a two-day conference held on Feb. 23-24, 2001 at the National Library of Australia
    National Library of Australia
    [ Sound : 2001 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

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  3. David Williams interviewed by James Waites in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras oral history project
    Williams, David F. (David Frederick), 1935-
    [ Sound : 2011 ]
    At National Library
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

  4. Canterbury tales / Geoffrey Chaucer ; edited with an introd. by A. C. Cawley
    Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400
    [ Book, Audio book : 1477-2012 ]
    Languages: English, English, Middle (1100-1500), Italian, Korean
    Read online at Open Library/Internet Archive
    View online
    At 55 libraries
    Canterbury tales / Geoffrey Chaucer ; edited with an introd. by A. C. Cawley
    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

    This resource may only be vaguely related to your query: matching terms may only have been found in the full text contents of the resource (score: 0.001)

  1. A tree creature, The tempest, 1951 ...
    Sainthill, Loud...
    [ Art work : 1951 ]
    A tree creature, The tempest, 1951 / Loudon Sainthill
  2. Design for a mural. [1090]
    SAINTHILL, Loud...
    [ Art work ]
    Design for a mural. [1090]
  3. Set design for The Queen of Shemakh...
    SAINTHILL, Loud...
    [ Art work : 1954 ]
    Set design for The Queen of Shemakhan's Magic Tent from Le Coq d'Or
  1. Artist in aristocratic home Another ai the series HOW THEY LIVE All the elegance of the Regency period is recaptured in the two floors of a fivestoried house in London's fashionab...
    The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) Wednesday 14 January 1959 p 24 Article Illustrated
    ... that brilliant Australian artist Loudon Sainthill has made his home. ABOVE: "Winter end" of the long ... Tatlock Miller, Loudon Sainthill recently col- laborated to compile and de- sign "Undoubted Queen," a ... length of the first floor is a magnificent L-shaped drawing-room that Loudon Sainthill has furnished ... 1272 words
    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.665)

    This resource is likely to be relevant to your query (score: 0.665)

  2. SYDNEY ARTIST'S PAINTINGS
    The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Thursday 11 September 1947 p 3 Article Illustrated
    ... SYDNEY ARTISTS PAINTINGS THIS SURREALIST STUDY The Actress by Loudon Sainthill is included in the Merioola Group's exhibition in Myer Mural Hall. It has been bought by the National Gallery. ... 30 words
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.026)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.026)

  3. PRINTED IN TASMANIA
    The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Tuesday 30 September 1947 p 5 Article Illustrated
    ... PRINTED IN! TASMANIA | A member of the staff of FitzGerald's Department Store, Hobart, with two examples amples of fabrics printed in Tasmania with designs by Australian artists. Left: "Etruscan," by Loudon Saint- hill. Right: "Tasmanian Bush," by J. Carrington Smith. ... 41 words
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.021)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.021)

  1. Loudon Sainthill, in grateful memory
    Robertson, Bryan
    Art and Australia
    [ Article : 1972 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.361)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.361)

  2. Loudon Sainthill - a tribute
    Smith, Treania
    Art and Australia
    [ Article : 1969 ]
    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.347)

    This resource may have relevance to your query (score: 0.347)

  3. Tributes: Harry Tatlock Miller
    France, Christine
    Art and Australia
    [ Article : 1990 ]
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.072)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.072)

  4. An aspect of pottery in the 1930s. -Pieces held by the National Gallery of Australia-
    McPhee, John
    Australian Antique Collector
    [ Article : 1992 ]
    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.054)

    This resource may be of limited relevance to your query (score: 0.054)