Peter Darrell takes his place in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh
The Peter Darrell Trust is delighted to announce that a
bronze bust of the late Peter Darrell CBE has been given by The Peter Darrell
Trust to the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh.
Peter was the founder of the Scottish Ballet, its Artistic Director for many years, its leading choreographer, and a great man of the theatre. He was internationally respected and very widely loved. He was important both as a choreographer and as a theatrical director. He had rare gifts of inspiration and psychological understanding. In all his work, he drew upon a deep knowledge of all matters theatrical. He had a genius for telling a story through dance.
Alison Murray Wells has overseen two castings of her bronze bust of Peter Darrell. One bust is on display at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, where Peter started his theatrical career as a dancer with the Sadler’s Wells Ballet. The other bust is now on display in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
We would like to thank Alison for her brilliant work. Her bust brings Peter back to life. It is a distinguished work of art in its own right. It will long remind us of how vivid, talented, charismatic and insightful he was: as a man, as a mentor and as a choreographer.
The Peter Darrell Trust is delighted that the National Portrait Gallery has accepted the gift of this distinguished new bronze. In the gallery, Peter’s bust will sit next to a photographic portrait of Scottish dancer and choreographer, Michael Clark. Peter found Michael’s work extremely exciting: we can be sure he would have enjoyed Michael’s company.
The Peter Darrell Trust would like to thank friends and supporters for their generous donations towards this project, without which the trust would have been unable to commission Alison Murray Wells to create her bust of Peter Darrell.
The trustees also want to thank Judy and Roger Spence for their tireless commitment to this fantastic project. It has taken a number of years to get from a first idea to a completed project. We could not have done this without them.
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