Dame Margaret Scott AC DBE (1922–2019) was born in Johannesburg and left her home in Swaziland for London at seventeen. She joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet but soon decided she'd rather dance for the more experimental Ballet Rambert. Throughout the war she lived and worked in London, and came to Australia in 1947 as the Ballet Rambert's principal dancer. She first met artist and designer Kenneth Rowell when he was commissioned to create the sets for the Ballet Rambert's 1948 production Winter Night. During the company’s fifteen-month stay, Scott also met the Australian scientist Derek Denton, whom she married in Cambridge, England in 1953. After returning to Melbourne she became a key figure in the formation of the Australian Ballet in 1962, and was director of the Australian Ballet School from 1964 to 1990. Rowell moved to London in 1950 and remained there for some 30 years, working on more than 140 ballet, opera and theatre productions, while continuing to create expressionist paintings and mixed-media works. This drawing he made of Scott remained in her possession until being gifted to the Gallery by her and her husband in 2014.
Gift of Professor Derek Denton AC and Dame Margaret Scott AC 2014. Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
© Estate of Kenneth Rowell
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