Ian Spurling (1937–1996). Australian artist and theatre designer

Ian Spurling trained in Adelaide and at London’s Slade School of Fine Art under the tuition of Peter Snow and Nicholas Georgiadis. Spurling had an affinity with the Art Deco styles of the 1920s and 1930s, and his designs, most notably with choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, tended to be based on that period. For MacMillan he designed The Seven Deadly Sins on two occasions (1961 and 1973), Elite Syncopations, La Fin du jour and Danses concertantes. He also designed a production of Peter and the Wolf for The Royal Ballet School, and Winter Play for Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet. Additionally, he designed two of Peter Maxwell Davies’ children’s operas – The Two Fiddlers and Cinderella – and costumes for the pop singer Freddie Mercury.