Podcast » Gillian Lynne
The great choreographer and director Gillian Lynne tells Lynn Wallis how it was a giant, but ultimately rewarding step, to leave Sadler’s Wells Ballet in 1951. We have a ten-minute trip from the...
people » Edward McKnight Kauffer
Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890–1954), American-born artist, illustrator and theatre designer
The American-born Edward McKnight Kauffer studied in the United States of America and France but for most of his career was based in Britain. Best known for his superb posters for London Underground, McKnight Kauffer also designed the striking sets and costumes for Ninette de Valois’ Checkmate created for the Vic-Wells Ballet He travelled back to America at the outbreak of World War Two and died in New York in 1954.
Checkmate is one of the only two ballets by Ninette de Valois to survive in the repertoire. It makes allegorical use of a chess game to represent a battle between love and death. Arthur Bliss, the...