Capitol Theatre upper lounge 1929

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Taken on: October 21, 2016

Uploaded on: October 21, 2016

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The magnificent art nouveau stencil work is by the great scenic artist Philip ‘Satin and Velvet’ Goatcher who worked variously in London, Melbourne, New York and Sydney before ultimately settling in Perth. Goatcher was often privately commissioned to decorate both public and private buildings. Described as one of the world’s finest designers in the late (or high) Victorian style, his preference in stage design was for painting the ‘cloths’ that hung at the back of set pieces, because in that work ‘nothing is left to mechanical effect. It is all art…’. His true forte was the trompe l'œil style, particularly in creating illusions of fabrics and drapes. It was a skill which gained him the ‘Satin and Velvet’ nickname. At an exhibition of the Society of Artists in 1895 it was noted that his ‘graceful design for a drop curtain [was] painted with the utmost delicacy and feeling for colour…’