Figure study of a ballerina
1938
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1938
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Figure study of a ballerina is a 1938 watercolor by Mervyn Laurence Peake, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This watercolor by Mervyn Peake shows a ballerina drawn as a teaching example. It’s from 1938, when he taught life drawing at the Westminster School of Art. He plays with thick gouache and thin watercolor washes to show different textures. It’s a quiet sheet—nothing yet of the dark fantasy work he later became known for. Look up the Victoria and Albert Museum.
A gouache study of a ballerina on laid paper with an Ingres watermark, this work by Mervyn Peake was created during his tenure at the Westminster School of Art, where he taught life drawing from 1935 to 1939. The piece demonstrates his experimentation with varied textures, combining thick gouache with thinner watercolor washes. It was reportedly produced as a teaching aid for students and later given to a student in 1939. The drawing shows little indication of the darker imaginative style that would later define Peake’s wartime and postwar illustrations.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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