David McFall R.A. (1919 - 1988)

Sculptor

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1944/3 Olga Howe

Portrait head

Bronze

née Olga Poliakoff

Born St Petersburg 1906; died London 25/12/73

Town Gardener

Wife of Ellic Howe (1944/2)

Olga Howe was the sister of Véra Lindsay (-Burton), a leading Shakespearean actress in the 1930’s.  Véra performed at The Old Vic alongside Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud and under the direction of Michel Saint-Denis (sometimes under her maiden name of Vera Poliakoff). She appeared in Alec Guinness's 1939 adaptation of Great Expectations playing the older Estella.

She also appeared in a number of early TV productions including Annajanska the Bolshevik Empress (1939), Katharine and Petruchio (1939), The Tempest (1939), Twelfth Night (1939) and Spellbound (1941).

Véra’s third marriage (1944 - 1956) was to Sir Gerald Barry (1898 - 1968) who, when he was Editor of the News Chronicle, wrote an open letter to Sir Stafford Cripps supporting a proposal for the Festival of Britain in 1951, for which Barry subsequently became the Director-General (McFall exhibited his Boy and Foal 1951/1 at the Festival of Britain). Véra and Sir Gerald’s son, Stephen Barry (1945-2000), became a director and arts administrator. Véra next married in 1956 John Russell, The Times art critic. They divorced in 1971. Véra died in 1992. [sources: Lady Helen Brook, who was a friend of Olga Howe; The Times newspaper]

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