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Rose English

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Rose English is a British artist working in performance, installation, theatre, dance and film. She studied Fine Art at Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds Beckett University) graduating in 1973 with the performance installation 'A Divertissement' as her degree show.[1] She has been writing, directing and performing her own work for over thirty five years in venues as various as Tate Britain; Royal Court Theatre; Queen Elizabeth Hall; the Adelaide Festival; and Lincoln Center, New York. Her productions feature a diversity of co-performers including musicians, dancers, circus performers, magicians and horses.

Her shows range from her site-specific performances and collaborations of the 1970s including Quadrille,[2] Berlin and Mounting, her acclaimed solos of the 1980s including Plato's Chair and The Beloved to her large scale spectaculars of the 1990s including Walks on Water, The Double Wedding and Tantamount Esperance.

Her internationally celebrated solo with a horse – My Mathematics[3] – was produced by Michael Morris' Cultural Industry,[4] and a series of vignettes with horses were presented by The Banff Centre, Canada and The Serpentine Gallery, London. The Long Time Ago Story – a collaboration with a composer David Sawyer was commissioned for BBC Radio 4 in 2003. Ornamental Happiness,[5][6] a show in song and circus, opened the Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art in 2006, followed by Flagrant Wisdom commissioned by the National Glass Centre in 2009. The full length sequel featuring flying, glass, singing and Chinese acrobatics is currently in development.

English's performance works of the 1970s featured in the exhibition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution[7] at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and toured museums in the US and Canada 2007/2009, and in Women in Revolt!. (Tate Britain, London, 2024 and touring).[8] Her installation STORYBOARD, commissioned by the National Glass Centre[9][10] featured in Interloqui, a group exhibition at Caterina Tognon Arte Contemporanea,[11] to coincide with the 54th Venice Biennale, 2011. She exhibited an installation composed of elements and documents relating to her 1975 performance, Quadrille, in Taking Matters into Our Own Hands[12][13] at Richard Saltoun[14] and Karsten Schubert,[15] London 2013.

She co-wrote and designed the feature film The Gold Diggers,[16] directed by Sally Potter[17] in 1983. Made with an all female crew and cast[18] it was digitally re-mastered and released on BFI[19][20] DVD in 2009.

...The Gold Diggers is a key film of early 80s feminist cinema. Made with an all-woman crew, featuring stunning photography by Babette Magolte and a score by Lindsay Cooper it embraces a radical and experimental narrative structure. Celeste (Colette Laffont) is a computer clerk in a bank who becomes fascinated by the relationship between gold and power. Ruby (Julie Christie) is an enigmatic film star in quest of her childhood, her memories and the truth about her own identity. As their paths cross they come to sense that there could be a link between the male struggle for economic supremacy and the female ideal of mysterious but impotent beauty.[21]

English's work with dance includes choreographing Ariadne auf Naxos at the Munich Staatsoper,[22] directed by Tim Albery and her collaborations with choreographer Matthew Hawkins,[23] including Angels and Exiles at the Royal Opera House.

As an actress English has appeared in a wide range of theatre, film and television productions, working with directors including Richard Jones,[24] Sally Potter and Nick Philippou.[25] She has appeared in The Escort;[26] Our Mutual Friend;[27] Surviving Picasso;[28] Cracker (UK TV series); The Brooch Pin and Sinful Clasp;[29][30] and The Witches.[31]

English's awards include The Time Out Performance Award, The Wingate Scholarship[32] and the Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists.[33] In 2025 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Leeds School of Arts, Leeds Beckett University for her services to the arts: 'The award recognises Rose’s remarkable five-decade career as a pioneering figure in performance art'.[34]

English was the subject of a retrospective at the Museum der Moderne, Salzburg in 2024-5.[35] She is represented by Richard Saltoun Gallery.[36]

References

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  1. ↑ Brett, Guy; English, Rose (2014). Abstract Vaudeville: The Work of Rose English. London: Ridinghouse. ISBN 978-1-905464-82-1. OCLC 894141791.
  2. ↑ Art in Focus | Life of an Artwork: Quadrille by Rose English (Video). Tate. 20 January 2022. Archived from the original on 9 December 2025. Retrieved 24 July 2025 – via YouTube.
  3. ↑ Millard, Rosie (29 July 1992). "Performance Art / Best seat in the house?: Rose English's new show involves a live horse. But can she really ride? Rosie Millard found out". The Independent. Archived from the original on 7 November 2025. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  4. ↑ "Cultural Industry - Then - 1994". Cultural Industry. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  5. ↑ Johnston, Will (5 September 2006). "Preview: Ornamental Happiness, Unity Theatre, Liverpool". The Independent. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  6. ↑ Christiansen, Rupert (11 September 2006). "The doyenne of strangeness returns with another baffling, beautiful tableau". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 20 March 2025. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  7. ↑ "WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution". WACK!. Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. 25 July 2007. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  8. ↑ "Women In Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990". Tate. 2024. Archived from the original on 31 July 2026. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  9. ↑ "National Glass Centre's Italian art job". University of Sunderland. 10 May 2011. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  10. ↑ "Visiting Arts e-newsletter: Supported events - Zhejiang Acrobatic Troupe of China and Rose English: Ornamental Happiness". Visiting Arts. British Council. 2006. Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  11. ↑ "Interloqui". Caterina Tognon Arte Contemporanea. 2011. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  12. ↑ "Exhibitions: Taking Matters into Our Own Hands". Richard Saltoun Gallery. 2013. Archived from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  13. ↑ "Exhibitions: Taking Matters into Our Own Hands". Karsten Schubert London. 1 March 2013. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  14. ↑ "Artist: Rose English". Richard Saltoun Gallery. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  15. ↑ "Artists: Rose English - Works: Quadrille: set of 6 'horse' heels, 6 tails and belts, 6 tunics, 1975". Karsten Schubert London. Archived from the original on 25 February 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  16. ↑ Kuhn, Annette. "Film: Gold Diggers, The (1983)". BFI Screenonline. Archived from the original on 15 April 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  17. ↑ Corradi, Stella (13 December 2013). "Sally Potter". Sally Potter. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  18. ↑ "BFI Screenonline: Gold Diggers, The (1983)". www.screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  19. ↑ "BFI : Film Forever : Homepage". Bfi.org. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  20. ↑ "BFI Filmstore British & Irish Film & TV". Filmstore.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  21. ↑ "The Gold Diggers (DVD)". BFI. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  22. ↑ "Bayerische Staatsoper". Bayerische.staatsoper.de. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  23. ↑ "Matthew Hawkins". Matthewhawkinsdance.co.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  24. ↑ "Richard Jones talks to Rose English about Tales from the Vienna Woods, Olivier Theatre, 22 October 2003". Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  25. ↑ "portfolio". nickphilippou.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  26. ↑ "Mauvaise passe (1999) : Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  27. ↑ "Our Mutual Friend (1998 TV Mini-Series) : Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  28. ↑ "Surviving Picasso (1996) : Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  29. ↑ "The Brooch Pin and the Sinful Clasp (1990) : Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  30. ↑ Video on YouTube
  31. ↑ "The Witches (1990) : Full Cast & Crew". IMDb.com. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  32. ↑ "Artist Detail". Wingate.org.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  33. ↑ "Paul Hamlyn Foundation ~ Previous Awards". Phf.org.uk. Archived from the original on 21 May 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  34. ↑ Slee, Peter (23 June 2025). "News".
  35. ↑ "Begin Suddenly in Splendour. ROSE ENGLISH: Performance, Presence, Spectacle - Museum der Moderne Salzburg". www.museumdermoderne.at. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
  36. ↑ "Rose English". Richard Saltoun. Retrieved 24 July 2025.

Further reading

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  • Kabat, Jennifer (December 2017 – January 2018). "A chaos of possibilities". The Believer. 14 (3): 32–45.
  • Brett, Guy Abstract Vaudeville, London: Ridinghouse, 2014.
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