Paul Joyce: Photographs of Elders

16 December 1977 to 5 February 1978

Press Extract

The British Journal of Photography, ‘Viewed: Paul Joyce at The National Portrait Gallery’ by Walter Nurnberg, 20 January 1978

The exhibition ‘Elders’ by Paul Joyce at the National Portrait Gallery, on view until 5 February, is a powerful show which encourages thoughtfulness and poses questions which should not be ignored.

The work of Paul Joyce is without technical gimmicks or intellectual tricks and it is thus a happy, and nowadays rare experience to find a photographer who appears to go about his work earnestly to surprise us by an often unexpected and not infrequently deep insight into the personalities before his lens. He succeeds in this all the more because his work has no dogmatic undertones and avoids flaunting the photographer’s preoccupation with his own nature or the self-conscious importance of his own ideas or attitudes. Joyce thus leaves the onlooker free to concentrate entirely on the serious business of coming to know, and even to understand, people whom the beholder has probably never met before face to face. Surely this, and this alone, is what true and great portraiture is all about.

Handlist

Robert Graves
by Paul Joyce
September 1976
NPG x13407

1. Robert Graves, writer
Battersea Park, September 1976
x13407

2. Sir John Plumb, historian
Cambridge, October 1975
x13417

3. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, art historian
Hampstead, September 1975
x13416

4. Frederick Gandolfi, camera maker
Peckham Rye, March 1976
x13406

5. Cecil King, newspaper director
Dublin, June 1977
x13411

Henry Moore
by Paul Joyce
October 1975
NPG x13415

6. Henry Moore, sculptor
Much Hadham, October 1975
x13415

7. Sir Ralph Richardson, actor
London, January 1976
x13420

8. Dennis Wheatley, novelist
London, August 1975
x13425

9. Spike Milligan, actor and author
London, April 1977
x13414

10. John Bratby, painter
Greenwich, July 1975
x13404

Ken Russell
by Paul Joyce
November 1977
NPG x13434

11. Ken Russell, film director
Grasmere, November 1977
x13434

12. Lord Butler, Master of Trinity College,
Cambridge, May 1977
x13428

13. William Golding, author
Bowerchalke, May 1977
x13430

14. Bill Brandt, photographer
London, November 1976
x13427

15. Lord George-Brown, politician
Jevington, February 1976
x13429

Micheál MacLiammoir
by Paul Joyce
June 1977
NPG x13413

16. Micheál MacLiammóir, actor
Dublin, June 1977
x13413

17. Sir Ernst Gombrich, art historian
London, July 1975
x13408

18. Sir Carol Reed, film director
London, April 1975
x13418

19. Christopher Isherwood, author
London, April 1977
x13409

20. Angus Wilson, author
Bradford St George, May 1977
x13426

Louis Philip Kentner
by Paul Joyce
May 1977
NPG x13410

21. Louis Kentner, concert pianist
London, May 1977
x13410

22. F.R. Leavis, literary critic
Cambridge, October 1975
x13412

23. Jean Rhys, writer
Cheriton Fitzpaine, July 1977
x13419

24. Alexander Thom
, engineering scientist
Dunlop, November 1977
x13423

25. Sir Alfred Ayer, philosopher
London, June 1975
x13402

26. Lord Snow, writer
London, June 1977
x13421

27. Stephen Spender, poet and critic
London, October 1977
x13422

28. Lord Boothby, politician
London, June 1977
x13403

29. John Piper, painter
Fawley, August 1975
x13433

30. Max Wall, actor
Manchester, May 1977
x13436

Graham Sutherland
by Paul Joyce
August 1977
NPG x13435

31. Graham Sutherland, painter
Trottiscliffe, August 1977
x13435

32. Henry Moore
Much Hadham, October 1975
x13432

33. Bernard Leach, potter
St Ives, November 1976
x13431

34. James Cameron, journalist
London, June 1975
x13405

35. Jean Rhys
Cheriton Fitzpaine, July 1977
x13437

Stephen Spender
by Paul Joyce
October 1977
NPG x13440

36. Ken Russell
Grasmere, November 1977
x13438

37. Lord Snow
London, June 1977
x13439

38. Stephen Spender
London, October 1977
x13440

39. Graham Sutherland
Trottiscliffe, August 1977
x13441

40. Alexander Thom
Dunlop, November 1977
x13442

41. Max Wall as Davies in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker
Greenwich, November 1977
x13443

42. Emlyn Williams, actor
London, August 1977
x13444

43. Paul Vincze, medallist
London, August 1975

44. Ansel Adams, photographer
London, July 1976

45. Brassai, photographer
London, July 1976

46. Bill Brandt, Brassai and Ansel Adams
London, July 1976

47-8. Micheál MacLiammóir and Hilton Edwards, founders of the Gate Theatre
Dublin, June 1977
x13413

Sir Huw Wheldon
by Paul Joyce
May 1977
NPG P320

49. Sir Huw Wheldon, broadcaster
Richmond, May 1977
P320

50. Christopher Isherwood
London, April 1977

51. Bernard Leach
St Ives, November 1976

52. Henry Moore
Much Hadham, October 1975
x13432

53. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
Hampstead, September 1975
x13447

54. Lord Butler
Cambridge, May 1977

John Piper
by Paul Joyce
August 1975
NPG x13448

55. John Piper
Fawley, August 1975
x13448

56. Max Wall
Manchester, May 1977

57. Bill Brandt
London, November 1976

58. F.J. Joyce, the photographer’s father
Ovingdean, February 1975

59. Sir John Plumb
Cambridge, October 1975
x13439

60. Lord Butler
Cambridge, May 1977

61. Sir Carol Reed
London, April 1975
x13451

Designed by Caroline Brown
Organised by Colin Ford