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.
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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.
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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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