Yolanda Sonnabend

Born in Rhodesia, Sonnabend studied painting and stage design at the Slade (1955-60). Taught at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, the Slade, the Central School and Wimbledon. A designer for theatre and ballet, she worked for the Royal Opera House and the Royal Ballet, as well as Sadler's Wells, the Oxford Playhouse and the Stuttgart Ballet company. As well as being included in Twenty Years of British Stage design, a British Council show which toured Europe, she has exhibited paintings and designs in London, Paris, Verona, Cologne and Milan. In 2000 she won the Garrick-Milne prize for theatrical portrait painting.

Text © National Portrait Gallery, London