The papers of Robert Medley

This archive comprises the correspondence and personal papers of Robert Medley and Rupert Doone, together with writings, exhibition catalogues, theatre designs, sketches and other artworks, press cuttings and photographs of Robert Medley, as well as further correspondence and printed material concerning his involvement in Group Theatre and Slade School of Art.

Charles Robert Owen Medley CBE, RA, (19 December 1905-20 October 1994), known as Robert Medley, was an English artist who painted in both abstract and figurative styles, and who also worked as theatre designer. Robert Medley studied art at the Slade School of Fine Art and then completed his training by spending two years in Paris from 1926 to 1928. It was during this time that he met his long term partner, dancer, choreographer and theatre director, Rupert Doone (1903-1966).

Medley began to exhibit paintings with the London Group from 1929, and went on to hold his first solo show at the Cooling Galleries in 1931. In 1932, he and Doone jointly founded the Group Theatre, for which Medley served as artistic director, either designing productions himself or supervising designs that included masks by Henry Moore.

During the Second World War, Medley served as an Air Raid Precautions Warden until he was offered a three month commission by the War Artists' Advisory Committee, to go to France to record troop landings for the British Expeditionary Force. He was later sent to Cairo, Egypt, where he was part of the Camouflage Corps.

After the war, he taught at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts (later known as Camberwell College of Arts). He later became a visiting lecturer at the Slade School of Art, and then returned there full time in 1958 as Head of the Department of Theatre Design, a post which he held until 1966. In 1982, he was appointed CBE and in 1985 he was elected to the Royal Academy.

This collection as been arranged as follows:

1) Correspondence between Robert Medley and Rupert Doone

2) Professional correspondence of Robert Medley

3) Professional correspondence of Rupert Doone

4) Personal correspondence and papers of Robert Medley

5) Personal correspondence and papers of Rupert Doone

6) Correspondence and papers relating to the death of Rupert Doone

7) Correspondence and papers rlating to Charles Osborne's book titled 'W. H. Auden: The Life of a Poet'

8) Group Theatre

9) Morley College Theatre School

10) Slade School of Art

11) Exhibition correspondence and catalogues of Robert Medley

12) Writings of Robert Medley

13) Writings of Rupert Doone

14) Personal photographs of Robert Medley

15) Photographs af theatre productions, mainly Group Theatre

16) Photographs of theatre designs by Robert Medley

18) Press cuttings relating to Robert Medley and Rupert Doone

OPEN

The estate of Robert Medley.

See TGA 953.

For further correspondence and writings of Robert Medley see TGA 953. Also see N05987, P03104, T06549, T00498, T06873, T00628, T000628, T01286, T00331, T00332 and T06981.