Rolla Exhibition
Fergusson Museum, Perth
 The Andrew Rolla Bequest exhibition opens at the Fergusson Gallery on
Thursday 24th May. It celebrates the life and work of Andrew Rolla (1926-2004)
with examples of his colourful artwork accompanied by archival items such as his
birth certificate, photographs, books and opera programmes.
Andrew Rolla was born in Edinburgh on 17th March 1926 into a Scottish-Italian
family. He attended Edinburgh College of Art in 1943 before deciding he wanted
to be a dancer. He trained with Margaret Morris (1891-1980) at her Celtic Ballet
College in Glasgow. Here, he also met and learned much from art classes with J.
D. Fergusson (1874-1961).
Like Fergusson, Rolla had a great love of colour and rhythm. Movement, colour
and nature were the main themes of his work. For a number of years he lived in
South East Kent and the English countryside had a strong influence on his later
painting. Much of his work also relates to the theatre and includes poster and
costume designs. Examples of these are on display in the exhibition, along with
Rolla’s record sleeve design for Stravinsky’s ‘Firebird’, which was
commissioned by EMI in 1984.
Andrew Rolla’s theatre career began with Margaret Morris’ Celtic Ballet
company. He danced in many productions with them in the 1940s. In 1954 he went
with The Celtic Ballet to the USA to dance at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance
Festival.
During the 1950s Rolla taught movement classes at the Webber Douglas School
of Drama and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. At the London Opera Centre
he also designed costumes and decors.
He became Director of the Margaret Morris Art Group in London. Many of his
works are now in private collections worldwide. His work and achievements were
recognised in 1968 when he received a Fellowship of the Guildhall School of
Music and Drama.
The exhibition runs until 17 November 2007.
Family activity: design a CD cover.
Free admission
 
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