Australia Dancing - Constable, William (Bill) (1906

Constable, William (Bill) (1906 - 1989)

Beck, Richard: Portrait of William Constable, 1970s

William (Bill) Henry Archibald Constable was born in Bendigo, where he received early artistic training in watercolours from Meta Townsend. After undertaking part of an apprenticeship as an electrical engineer at the Jolimont Workshops, he pursued his studies at the National Gallery of Victoria School in 1926, and the St. Martin's School of Art, London in 1930.

Returning to Australia in the early 1930s, Constable's first engagement as a theatre designer was for Gregan McMahon's Jonah and the Whale (1934) at the Garrick Theatre, Melbourne. Other theatrical designs that Constable executed during this period were a series for the New Theatre, including Catherine Duncan's The Sword Sung (1937) and three productions for J. C. Williamson Ltd.'s Marie Ney season, which included Ladies in Retirement (1940), Private Lives (1941), and No Time for Comedy (1941).

Constable's passionate invovement in designing for ballet began with a series of works for the Borovansky Ballet in 1940, these included Vltava (1940), Pas classique (1940), and Autumn Leaves (1940). In total Constable designed approximately twenty productions for the Borovansky Ballet, including En Saga (1941), Les Sylphides (1942), Façade (1943), Giselle (1944), Terra Australis (1946), Scheherazade (1946), The Black Swan (1949), La Boutique fantasque (1951), The Outlaw (1951), The Sleeping Princess (1951), Les Amants eternels (The Eternal Lovers) with choreography by Paul Grinwis (1952), Symphonie fantastique (1954), Prince Igor (1954), Fifth Symphony: Les Presages (1955), Francesca da Rimini (1955), and Corrida with choreography by David Lichine (1956). Constable developed a firm friendship with Edouard Borovansky during this period. Of Borovansky and their mutual fishing interest Constable said 'I found him [Borovansky] magnificent. We were great fishing mates. We'd go off to an old shack he had on the Mornington Peninsula and fish the whole weekend'.

In 1947 Constable produced a series of set designs for an unrealised production by Robert Helpmann of John Antill's Corroboree intended to be produced in 1947, however, these were eventually realised in Rex Reid’s version of Corroboree (1950) for the Melbourne-based National Theatre Ballet.

Constable’s first engagement in the film industry was the Australian production of Long John Silver (1954), for which he was the production designer. He later worked in a similar capacity for the television series The Adventures of Long John Silver (1955). Travelling to London in 1957, Constable proceeded to earn a reputation as an art director and production designer on films such as The Trials of Oscar Wilde (The Green Carnation) (1960) for which he won a medallion for best art director of the year at the Moscow Film Festival, The Long Ships (1963), Lord Jim (1965), and Salt and Pepper (1968). Constable returned to the ballet to design Noel Coward’s London Morning for the London Festival Ballet in 1959.

Back in Australia Constable continued his association with theatrical design, working on productions such as Rashomon for St. Martin’s Theatre, designing and supervising the tapestry curtain for Her Majesty's, Sydney, in 1973, and holding an exhibition of his theatrical designs at the Munster Arms Gallery in 1973, and Lennox Street Galleries in 1977. Constable also exhibited paintings of Cambodia at the Munster Arms Gallery in 1972, and later at the Victorian Artists Society Galleries in 1975, and of Central Australia and the Great Barrier Reef at the Richmond Hill Gallery in 1974.

Bibliography:

Constable's roles in film and television are listed on the Internet Movie Database.

Research Materials

Other resources

Find more about Constable, William (Bill) in:

Internet - Google
Articles - New York Public Library Dance Collection
Pictures - Picture Australia