The Royal Ballet at 75
Pearl Argyle
by Paul Tanqueray
1933
NPG x7243
Past display archive
14 January - 23 July 2006
Room 31 showcase
Free
2006 marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of The Royal Ballet and to celebrate the occasion the National Portrait Gallery is showing a selection of dance portraits from its extensive collection of photographs. This display showcases some of the key figures who played a part in shaping the Company and influencing British ballet in the twentieth century. As Britain's most prestigious ballet company, The Royal Ballet has an international reputation for its dancers, choreographers, productions of the classics and new work and, most significantly perhaps, for its style -the 'English style' -a distinctive blend of restrained classicism, musicality and lyricism.
The Gallery has chosen from its collection more than thirty portraits that together capture something of The Royal Ballet's distinctive qualities and represent some of its most celebrated stars. These include the pioneers and founding members whose vision helped to establish the Company. Foremost amongst these, as portrayed by her brother Gordon Anthony, is the Company's founder Dame Ninette de Valois, who determined to open a school in which to train dancers, set up a permanent company and build a national ballet. Also on show is Anthony's portrait of the redoubtable theatre manager Lilian Baylis, who provided the Company with its first home at Sadler's Wells Theatre. Other founding members featured include choreographer Frederick Ashton, in a photograph by Angus McBean, musical director Constant Lambert, photographed by Yvonne Gregory, and the greatest of all The Royal Ballet's ballerinas Margot Fonteyn, as photographed by Yousuf Karsh. Together, these are the individuals whose creative influence gave birth to a 'national style' and, in so doing, gave the Company its identity.
Pearl Argyle
by Paul Tanqueray
1933
NPG x7243
Rudolf Nureyev
by Cecil Beaton
1962
NPG x40302
Darcey Bussell; Jonathan Cope
by Jillian Edelstein
1993
NPG P553
Sir Frederick Ashton
by Angus McBean
1941
NPG x15063
Ninette de Valois
by Gordon Anthony
1937
NPG x44790
Wayne Sleep
by Alan Bergman
17 September 2003
NPG x126235
Over the last seventy-five years The Royal Ballet has nurtured and showcased a wealth of talented dancers and choreographers, many of whom have made a significant contribution to 20th century British ballet and gone on to pursue international careers. The display includes a small selection of some of the most celebrated artists to work with the Company. Dancers from the early years include Pearl Argyle, Lydia Lopokova, Harold Turner and Anton Dolin - represented in vintage prints by photographers such as Paul Tanqueray, Cecil Beaton and Cyril Arapoff. Other images include rarely seen portraits of Alicia Markova by Dorothy Wilding and an early portrait of Rudolf Nureyev by Beaton. Michael Somes and David Blair are featured, looking like matinee idols, in photographs by Tanqueray and Vivienne. Among the more contemporary images are portraits of former director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Peter Wright, by Barry Marsden, and current dancers Darcey Bussell and Jonathan Cope, by Jillian Edelstein. Recent acquisitions include photographs by Alan Bergman of Wayne Sleep, Irek Mukhamedov and Company director Monica Mason.
Related portraits
- Margot Fonteyn (NPG P490(32))
- Darcey Bussell; Jonathan Cope (NPG P553)
- Louise Browne (NPG x127034)
- Sir Anton Dolin (NPG x15528)
- Sir Frederick Ashton; Harold Turner; Lydia Lopokova in 'The Masque of Beauty and Pleasure' (NPG x40698)
- Constant Lambert (NPG x19801)
- Ninette De Valois, Harold Turner and members of The English Ballet rehearsing Les Sylphides (NPG x88326)
- Pearl Argyle (NPG x7243)
- Ninette de Valois (NPG x44790)
- William Chappell as Elihu in 'Job' (NPG x44787)
- Lilian Mary Baylis (NPG x44755)
- Moira Shearer (NPG x14203)
- Sir Frederick Ashton (NPG x15063)
- Pamela May (NPG x127353)
- David Blair (NPG x6037)
- Sir Robert Murray Helpmann (NPG x76095)
- Alicia Markova (NPG x35784)
- John Cyril Cranko (NPG x14054)
- Donald Whyte MacLeary; Svetlana Beriosova (NPG x7887)
- Michael George Somes (NPG x26509)
- Rudolf Nureyev (NPG x40302)
- Nadia Nerina (NPG x14156)
- Dame Beryl Grey (NPG x13716)
- Merle Park (NPG x88826)
- Antoinette Sibley; Sir Anthony Dowell (NPG x125578)
- Lynn Seymour (NPG x22185)
- Bryony Brind (NPG x31007)
- Sir Peter Robert Wright (NPG x39375)
- Sir Kenneth Macmillan (NPG x88685)
- Viviana Durante (NPG x125350)
- Wayne Sleep (NPG x126235)
- Dame Monica Margaret Mason (NPG x126451)
- Sir David Julian Bintley (NPG x127761)
Related sitters
- Pearl Argyle
- Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton
- Lilian Mary Baylis
- Svetlana Beriosova
- Sir David Julian Bintley
- David Blair
- Bryony Brind
- Louise Browne
- Darcey Andrea Bussell
- William ('Billy') Evelyn Chappell
- Jonathan Cope
- John Cyril Cranko
- Dame Ninette de Valois (Edris Stannus)
- Sir Anton Dolin
- Sir Anthony Dowell
- Viviana Durante
- Dame Margot Fonteyn
- Dame Beryl Grey
- Sir Robert Murray Helpmann
- Constant Lambert
- Lydia Lopokova (Lady Keynes)
- Donald Whyte MacLeary
- Sir Kenneth Macmillan
- Dame Alicia Markova
- Dame Monica Margaret Mason
- Pamela May
- Nadia Nerina
- Rudolf Hametovich Nureyev
- Dame Merle Florence Park
- Lynn Seymour
- Moira Shearer (Lady Kennedy)
- Dame Antoinette Sibley
- Wayne Sleep
- Michael George Somes
- Harold Turner
- Sir Peter Robert Wright
Related artists
- James Abbe
- Gordon Anthony
- Cyril Arapoff
- Cecil Beaton
- Alan Bergman
- Julian Broad
- Anthony Buckley
- Pamela Chandler
- Bill Cooper
- Jillian Edelstein
- Yvonne Gregory
- Tara Heinemann
- James Jarché
- Yousuf Karsh
- Jorge ('J.S.') Lewinski
- Angus McBean
- Barry Marsden
- David Secombe
- Paul Tanqueray
- Unknown photographer
- Vivienne (Florence Vivienne Entwistle, née Mellish)
- Dorothy Wilding