Rose English

{{Short description|British artist}}

{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}

Rose English is a British artist working in performance, installation, theatre, dance and film. 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, 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{{cite news|author=Rosie Millard |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/performance-art--best-seat-in-the-house-rose-englishs-new-show-involves-a-live-horse-but-can-she-really-ride-rosie-millard-found-out-1536202.html |title=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 – Arts & Entertainment |work=The Independent |date=29 July 1992 |access-date=19 February 2014}} – was produced by Michael Morris' Cultural Industry,{{cite web|url=http://www.culturalindustry.co.uk/pages/then.html |title=Cultural Industry |publisher=Cultural Industry |access-date=19 February 2014}} 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,{{cite news|last=Johnston |first=Will |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/preview-ornamental-happiness-unity-theatre-liverpool-414740.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227064246/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/preview-ornamental-happiness-unity-theatre-liverpool-414740.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 February 2014 |title=Preview: Ornamental Happiness, Unity Theatre, Liverpool – Features – Theatre & Dance |work=The Independent |date=5 September 2006 |access-date=19 February 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/3655233/The-doyenne-of-strangeness-returns-with-another-baffling-beautiful-tableau.html |title=The doyenne of strangeness returns with another baffling, beautiful tableau |publisher=Telegraph |date=11 September 2006 |access-date=19 February 2014}} 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{{cite web |url=http://sites.moca.org/wack/2007/07/25/wack-art-and-the-feminist-revolution/ |title=WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution |publisher=Sites.moca.org |access-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227133824/http://sites.moca.org/wack/2007/07/25/wack-art-and-the-feminist-revolution/ |archive-date=27 February 2014 |df=dmy-all }} at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and toured museums in the US and Canada 2007/2009. Her installation STORYBOARD, commissioned by the National Glass Centre{{cite web|url=http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/newsevents/news/news/index.php?nid=1216 |title=National Glass Centre's Italian art job |publisher=Sunderland.ac.uk |access-date=19 February 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://208.254.39.65/visitingarts/e_article000651850.cfm?x=b11,0,w |title=Visiting Arts e-newsletter: Supported events |publisher=208.254.39.65 |access-date=19 February 2014}} featured in Interloqui, a group exhibition at Caterina Tognon Arte Contemporanea,{{cite web|url=http://www.caterinatognon.com/interloqui2011.htm |title=Caterina Tognon Arte Contemporanea |publisher=Caterinatognon.com |access-date=19 February 2014}} 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{{cite web|url=http://www.richardsaltoun.com/exhibitions/21/overview/ |title=Taking Matters into Our Own Hands – 22 January – 8 March 2013 |publisher=Richard Saltoun |date=8 March 2013 |access-date=19 February 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.karstenschubert.com/exhibitions/12/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140219105513/http://www.karstenschubert.com/exhibitions/12/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=19 February 2014 |title=Taking Matters into Our Own Hands |publisher=Karsten Schubert |date=1 March 2013 |access-date=19 February 2014}} at Richard Saltoun{{cite web|url=http://www.richardsaltoun.com/artists/109-Rose-ENGLISH/overview/ |title=Rose English |publisher=Richard Saltoun |access-date=19 February 2014}} and Karsten Schubert,{{cite web |url=http://www.karstenschubert.com/artists/73-Rose-English/works/6463/ |title=Quadrille: set of 6 'horse' heels, 6 tails and belts, 6 tunics, 1975 |publisher=Karsten Schubert |access-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225014100/http://www.karstenschubert.com/artists/73-Rose-English/works/6463/ |archive-date=25 February 2014 |df=dmy-all }} London 2013.

She co-wrote and designed the feature film The Gold Diggers,{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/453393/ |title=BFI Screenonline: Gold Diggers, The (1983) |publisher=Screenonline.org.uk |access-date=19 February 2014}} directed by Sally Potter{{cite web|last=Corradi |first=Stella |url=http://sallypotter.com/ |title=Sally Potter |publisher=Sally Potter |date=13 December 2013 |access-date=19 February 2014}} in 1983; digitally re-mastered and released on BFI{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/ |title=BFI : Film Forever : Homepage |publisher=Bfi.org |access-date=19 February 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_13725.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205050229/http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_13725.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 December 2009 |title=BFI Filmstore British & Irish Film & TV |publisher=Filmstore.bfi.org.uk |access-date=19 February 2014}} DVD in 2009.

{{Quote|text=...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.{{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk//blu-rays-dvds/gold-diggers |title=The Gold Diggers (DVD) |publisher=BFI |access-date=19 February 2014}}}}

English's work with dance includes choreographing Ariadne auf Naxos at the Munich Staatsoper,{{cite web|url=http://www.bayerische.staatsoper.de/866--~Staatsoper~bso_aktuell~aktuelles.html |title=Bayerische Staatsoper |publisher=Bayerische.staatsoper.de |access-date=19 February 2014}} directed by Tim Albery and her collaborations with choreographer Matthew Hawkins,{{cite web|url=http://www.matthewhawkinsdance.co.uk/ |title=Matthew Hawkins |publisher=Matthewhawkinsdance.co.uk |access-date=19 February 2014}} 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,{{cite web |url=http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/discover-more/platforms/platform-papers/richard-jones-on-tales-from-the-vienna-woods |title=Richard Jones talks to Rose English about Tales from the Vienna Woods, Olivier Theatre, 22 October 2003 |access-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226165035/http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/discover-more/platforms/platform-papers/richard-jones-on-tales-from-the-vienna-woods |archive-date=26 February 2014 |df=dmy-all }} Sally Potter and Nick Philippou.{{cite web|url=http://www.nickphilippou.com/ |title=portfolio |publisher=nickphilippou.com |access-date=19 February 2014}} She has appeared in The Escort;{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187601/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm|title=Mauvaise passe (1999) : Full Cast & Crew|publisher=IMDb.com|access-date=19 February 2014}} Our Mutual Friend;{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144727/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm|title=Our Mutual Friend (1998 TV Mini-Series) : Full Cast & Crew|publisher=IMDb.com|access-date=19 February 2014}} Surviving Picasso;{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117791/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm|title=Surviving Picasso (1996) : Full Cast & Crew|publisher=IMDb.com|access-date=19 February 2014}} Cracker (UK TV series); The Brooch Pin and Sinful Clasp;{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0287345/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm|title=The Brooch Pin and the Sinful Clasp (1990) : Full Cast & Crew|publisher=IMDb.com|access-date=19 February 2014}}{{YouTube|pFg9wNbbp7g}} and The Witches.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100944/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm|title=The Witches (1990) : Full Cast & Crew|publisher=IMDb.com|access-date=19 February 2014}}

English's awards include The Time Out Performance Award, The Wingate Scholarship{{cite web|url=http://www.wingate.org.uk/ScholarDetails.php?id=59 |title=Artist Detail |publisher=Wingate.org.uk |access-date=19 February 2014}} and the Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists.{{cite web |url=http://www.phf.org.uk/artists/landing.asp?id=284 |title=Paul Hamlyn Foundation ~ Previous Awards |publisher=Phf.org.uk |access-date=19 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521145457/http://www.phf.org.uk/Artists/landing.asp?id=284 |archive-date=21 May 2014 |df=dmy-all }}

English is represented by Richard Saltoun Gallery.{{citation needed|date= August 2022}}