Photographic holdings - print and negative collections

Anglican Bishops

880 prints in card window mounts contained in 44 Red boxes, arranged alphabetically by surname taken by various photographers between 1880s -1940s. Boxes A - D catalogued on to index cards. 26 paged list typed by Miss Parham provides iundex of Bishops arranged by Sees before their re-arrangement in alphabetical order.
Each window mount contains handwritten caption containing full name of Bishop, list and dates of Bishoprics, names of Consecrators and place and date of consecration.
Five Bishops of Black American or African origin displayed in Before Windrush (Room 31 2002-3) includes James Theodore Holly, Bishop of Haiti and Isaac Oluwole and Augustus Williams Howells, both assistant Bishops of Lagos.

Catalogued portraits

    Adelbert John Robert Anson,    by Elliott & Fry,    1880s-1890s,    NPG x8439,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Adelbert John Robert Anson, by Elliott & Fry, 1880s-1890s

Godfrey Argent

Photographer
See National Photographic Record
See also exhibition checklist of 59 Portraits taken for the NPR and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery 5 January - 14 February 1971.
In 1999 Argent moved from his studio off Kensington Church Street and donated with copyrights the surviving negatives from the Baron Studios (1954-1974) and transferred remainder of Walter Stoneman negatives up to his death in 1958.
Subsequent NPR negatives temporarily retained.

Catalogued portraits

    Dame Sheila Sherlock,    by Godfrey Argent,    23 February 1970,    NPG x165623,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Dame Sheila Sherlock, by Godfrey Argent, 23 February 1970

Baron Studios

Founded by the dance, film and celebrity photographer Baron 1906-1956 (ne Sterling Henry Nahum) the studios operated between 1954-74 from 2, Brick Street, Park Lane, Mayfair, London W1. They employed a number of operators including Count Zichy and principally Rex Coleman. Though primarily consisting of over 10,000 studio portraits of businessmen, (chairmen and managing-directors) 1,000 of the more interesting subjects, including those in colour or on location, show writers, musicians, foreign dignitaries, artists, broadcasters and fashion designers. These can be accessed on a database compiled by Katy Turner and available through the Public Study Room This on-going project has been sponsored by the EP Trust. Baron Studios was purchased by Godfrey Argent (qv) in 1974 and generously donated in 1999.

Catalogued portraits

    Kenneth David Kaunda,    by Rex Coleman, for  Baron Studios,    13 November 1964,    NPG x125564,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Kenneth David Kaunda, by Rex Coleman, for Baron Studios, 13 November 1964

Bassano Collection

Contains 40,000 whole-plate and half-plate negatives from 1870s -1940s.
Studio founded by Alexander Bassano (1829-1913) working from the 1850s until 1901 and subsequently resold on many occasions but retaining name and negatives.
Studios at 122, Regent Street (1862-76), 72, Piccadilly (1870-81), 25,Old Bond Street from 1877-1919 thence to 38, Dover Street. In 1964 incorporated Vandyk to become Bassano and Vandyk Studios and then on 1965-1974 Bassano and Vandyk incorporating Elliott and Fry
On closure of studio in l974 in Dover Street majority of negatives donated to NPG together with 3 sitter books. Other parts of collection dispersed of which 3,500 plus negatives acquired at auction by theatre historian John Culme. These negatives were generously donated to NPG in 1996. Also in 1996 remaining stock of important pre 1900 negatives and copyrights and 2,000 vintage press prints purchased by NPG including earlier amalgamated stock of Vandyk and Elliott and Fry.
See also Album 37 - England's Beautiful Women published by Bassano,1909.
DCMS funded project to catalogue collection began in 2002.

Catalogued portraits

    Anna Pavlova,    by Bassano Ltd,    28 June 1920,    NPG x18145,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Anna Pavlova, by Bassano Ltd, 28 June 1920

Cyril Flower, Baron Battersea, 1843-1907

Photographer
124 platinum prints (Aston Clinton album) 1885-1895 of prominent political and artistic personalities, friends and relations including various Souls photographed at Aston Clinton, country home of Cyril Flower and Constance (nee Rothschild), and two interior views of Mentmore. Purchased, 1982.
Alphabetical checklist compiled by David Chandler.

Catalogued portraits

    Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith,    by Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea,    circa 1891-1894,    NPG Ax15687,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, by Cyril Flower, 1st Baron Battersea, circa 1891-1894

Cecil Beaton Collection

1,200 prints (approx) containing two major collections. The first consisting of 240 prints mounted on white card and some signed below image of well-known British subjects presented by the photographer at the time of his first retrospective exhibition in 1968 held at the National Portrait Gallery : Portraits 1920s-1960s though not part of the exhibition. The second collection, accepted in lieu from the estate of his secretary Eileen Hose, in 1991 comprises portraits of international subjects, travel, topographical, theatre, film and still-life subjects and many portraits of Beaton throughout his life by other leading photographers. Primary Collection contains extended series of photographs of Duke and Duchess of Windsor wedding and other occasions.

Catalogued portraits

    Cecil Beaton,    by Cecil Beaton,    1927,    NPG P219,    © Cecil Beaton Archive / Condé Nast Cecil Beaton, by Cecil Beaton, 1927

George Charles Beresford, 1864-1938

Photographer
Studio portrait photographer, school friend of Rudyard Kipling, at 20 Yeoman's Row, Brompton Road, from 1903 to 1932.
154 platinum prints and 197 glass negatives, 1902-1923. Purchased from Miss Toplis, 1943.
Note: Sitter book in Getty Images Collection.
See Camera Portraits, no. 65

Catalogued portraits

    Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor,    by George Charles Beresford,    22 December 1920,    NPG x125,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, by George Charles Beresford, 22 December 1920

Walter Bird, 1903-1969

Photographer
Succeeded Walter Stoneman (q.v.) as chief photographer for J. Russell & Sons in 1958. Purchased Russell & Sons in December 1961. Thereafter NPR prints have Walter Bird credit until 1967 when firm sold to Godfrey Argent (q.v).
1,000 prints (approx.) filed with the National Photographic Record.

Catalogued portraits

    Sir Roy Harrod,    by Walter Bird,    6 February 1963,    NPG x20452,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Sir Roy Harrod, by Walter Bird, 6 February 1963

Benjamin Britten, 1913-1976

Composer
108 original photographs illustrating the life and times of the composer by various photographers including Eric Auerbach, Cecil Beaton, Bertyl Gaye, Kurt Hutton, Lotte Jacobi, Nigel Luckhurst, Angus McBean, Lotte Meitner-Graf, Edward Morgan and Roger Wood. Represents many personalities in Britten's circle, including: Frederick Ashton, W.H. Auden, Frank Bridge, Eric Crozier, E.M. Forster, Tyrone Guthrie, Imogen Holst, Christopher Isherwood, Peter Pears, John Piper, Michael Tippett. Given by the Britten Estate, 1991.
18-page descriptive checklist of photographs.

Catalogued portraits

    Benjamin Britten; André Ravasio,    by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman),    1958,    NPG x15238,    © reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London Benjamin Britten; André Ravasio, by Kurt Hutton (Kurt Hubschman), 1958

Christina Livingston, Mrs Albert Broom, 1863-1939

Photographer
First British woman free-lance press photographer, active 1903-39.
21 prints and 46 half-plate negatives.
See Camera Portraits, no. 81

Catalogued portraits

    Suffragette March in Hyde Park,    by Christina Broom,    23 July 1910,    NPG x17396,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Suffragette March in Hyde Park, by Christina Broom, 23 July 1910

The Sydney Buxton, Earl Buxton Collection

A collection of mainly cabinet portraits from the 1880s and 1890s
Including the novelist Henry James by Elliott and Fry and Thomas Arnold by Napoleon Sarony of New York (illustrated in National Portrait Gallery Review 1998/1999 on p.6) and Mrs Matthew Arnold, Dorethea Boyle, Hon. George Ernest Percival Brodrick, Miss Alida Chambers, J.J.Chapman, Hon. Gilbert James Duke Coleridge, Leonard Henri Courtney, Countess of Egmont, Gertrude Fane,Thomas Henry Farrer,1st Baron Farrer, Mrs W.E.Forster, Colonel Hay, Hariji Kato, Earl of Kimberley, Walter Leaf, Viscount Milner, Miss Morley, Anthony John Mundella, Mrs Mundella, Herbert Woodfield Paul, Miss Stuart Rendell, Francis William Rhodes, Sir Charles Russell, 1st Bt, Hon (Francis Albert) Rollo Russell, Cecil Smith, Mr Summers, Mrs Humphry Ward, Countess and 3 carte de visites of Henry Fowler, Hon A .Legge and Miss Riddle
Photographs by Aleander Bassano, T.Bennett and Sons of Worcester and Malvern, R.Boning of St.Leonards-on-Sea, Boning and Small, Byrne and Co, The Cameron Studio, Crookes of Edinburgh, Davis of Richmond, Virginia, Dawkes and Partridge of Wells, Elliott and Fry, Theoe Endean of Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, Somerset, Falk of New York, Fergus of Largs, Forshaw of Oxford, Fradelle, Walter G.Lewis of Bath Lombardi and Co, London Stereoscopic Company, Maull and Co Mayall, J.T.Newman of Berkhampstead J Robinson Regent Street Studios, Russell and Sons Suscipi of Rome, Henry Van Der Weyde, Window and Grove
Presented by Mrs John Clay and William Barnes, 1998

Catalogued portraits

Julia Margaret Cameron, 1815-1879

Photographer
109 albumen prints, large format, cabinet and carte de visite studies including portraits, genre subjects and some illustrations to Tennyson's Idylls of the King. Prints acquired from various sources including 66 given by Mrs Cordelia Curle, sister of Adeline Fisher, grand-daughter Maria Jackson (nee Pattle).
Checklist compiled by Andrea Gall. Extensive archive of copy prints in Photographer Boxes (14 boxes).
Note: Cameron/Herschel Album purchased by NPG in 1975 transferred to National Museum of Photography in 1983.
See Camera Portraits, nos. 28, 33

Catalogued portraits

    Alfred, Lord Tennyson,    by Julia Margaret Cameron,    May 1865,    NPG x18024,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Alfred, Lord Tennyson, by Julia Margaret Cameron, May 1865

Harriet Cohen, 1895-1967

Pianist
70 photographs mainly of Cohen by leading London studio photographers including Malcolm Arbuthnot, Hugh Cecil, Joan Craven, Yvonne Gregory, E.O. Hoppe, Kay Vaughan, Yevonde and Dorothy Wilding, 1920s-1930s, together with other studies of Sir Arnold Bax and Tamara Karsavina and the donor. Given by Harriet Cohen's sister, Miss Myra Verney, 1992.

Catalogued portraits

    Harriet Cohen,    by Malcolm Arbuthnot,    early 1920s,    NPG x39230,    © estate of Malcolm Arbuthnot Harriet Cohen, by Malcolm Arbuthnot, early 1920s

Howard (Sydney Musgrave) Coster, 1885-1959

Photographer
2,000 prints (approx.) and 8,000 negatives 1926-46, 1953-6.
12 albums and numerous prints. Given by the photographer's wife, Joan Coster, in 1959 (see Appendix A, Albums 48-58).
8,000 negatives. Purchased by the British Council in 1948 and transferred to the NPG from the Central Office of Information in 1974.
Collection arranged alphabetically within the periods 1920s-30s and 1940s-50s. Negatives, half-plates and 5 x 4 ins. arranged alphabetically in Nitrate store.
See Howard Coster's Celebrity Portraits: 101 Photographs of Personalities in Literature and the Arts (Dover Books/NPG, 1985) for full list of subjects photographed between 1926-1944 in NPG collection.
Note: Portrait of Howard Coster by Eric Gill in Primary Collection.
See Camera Portraits, no. 108

Catalogued portraits

    John Gielgud; Dame Peggy Ashcroft as Romeo and Juliet in 'Romeo and Juliet',    by Howard Coster,    1935,    NPG x14505,    © National Portrait Gallery, London John Gielgud; Dame Peggy Ashcroft as Romeo and Juliet in 'Romeo and Juliet', by Howard Coster, 1935

Fred Daniels, 1892-1959

Photographer
42 prints, 1920s-1940s, of British film, theatre, dance and entertainment personalities. Purchased from the photographer's widow, 1989.
See Camera Portraits, no. 109

Catalogued portraits

    Laurence Olivier in '49th Parallel',    by Fred Daniels,    1941,    NPG x88682,    © Estate of Fred Daniels / National Portrait Gallery, London Laurence Olivier in '49th Parallel', by Fred Daniels, 1941

Harry Diamond

Photographer
The Harry Diamond archive at the National Portrait Gallery comprises around 550 negative sets (approx 20,000 individual negatives) taken by the photographer Harry Diamond (1924-2009) in the period from 1970 to 2000 and a number of vintage prints. Most of the negatives and prints date from 1970s and 1980s; they are sorted in chronological order by negative number. The archive also includes a small selection of portraits of Diamond by various photographers. His direct and spontaneous portraits, many taken in Soho, include artists Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Eduardo Paolozzi, Frank Auerbach, William Coldstream, Albert Irvin, jazz musician Duke Ellington, and poet Elizabeth Smart. Diamond also documented London’s subcultures and street scenes which illustrate the changing face of the city in the 1970s and 1980s. Bequeathed to the Gallery in 2012 by Tower Hamlets Council and following the wishes of the photographer.

Catalogued portraits

    Harry Diamond, Brick Lane,    by Harry Diamond,    1973,    NPG x199373,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Harry Diamond, Brick Lane, by Harry Diamond, 1973

Olive Edis (Mrs Edwin Henry Galsworthy), 1876-1955

Photographer
331 sepia platinum prints. Given by the photographer in 1948.
37 autochromes (1914-1922) and 2 patented viewers. Bequeathed by the photographer in 1956.
51 autochromes and five autochrome viewers. Given by Rooks Rider Solicitors in 1991.
Checklist compiled by Lesley Bradshaw, 1993
See Camera Portraits, nos. 85, 90

Catalogued portraits

    George Bernard Shaw,    by Olive Edis,    1936,    NPG x7208,    © National Portrait Gallery, London George Bernard Shaw, by Olive Edis, 1936

Elliott & Fry

The firm of Elliott and Fry, founded in 1863 was one of the most important in the history of studio portraiture in London. Opened by Joseph John Elliott (1835-1903) and Clarence Edmund Fry (1840-1897) their first premises were a series of studios at 55 Baker Street. In 1922 new premises were opened at 63 Baker Street where they remained until 1963. The firm employed a variety of operators who took the photographs including Francis Henry Hart and Alfred James Philpott in the Edwardian era, Herbert Lambert and Walter Benington in the 1920s and 1930s and subsequently William Flowers. In the early 1940s the studio was bombed and most of the early negatives were destroyed. Shortly after the firm's Centenary in 1963 it was taken over by and amalgamated with Bassano & Vandyk.
The National Portrait Gallery acquired the first part of this archive in 1974 and subsequent additions were made in 1996 and 2004 when John Morton Morris purchased and donated an archive of 94 exhibition prints of subjects of the Victorian Era and first exhibited in 1922.

Catalogued portraits

Elliott & Fry Display - 20 January - 22 July 2007

See also Album 185 Fifty Leaders of British Sport and Album 67 Prose Masterpieces from Modern Essayists containing Elliott & Fry photographs.

    Thomas Henry Huxley,    by Elliott & Fry,    1885,    NPG x11994,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Thomas Henry Huxley, by Elliott & Fry, 1885

Roger Fenton, 1819-1869

Photographer
41 salt and albumen prints. Includes Album 183 Historical Portraits Photographed in the Crimea during the Spring and Summer of 1855, by Roger Fenton published by Thomas Agnew & Sons (containing 29 subjects). Purchased in 1983.
Portfolio of various loose prints titled 'Photographs in the Crimea'. Given by the Rev. Collins Odgers, 1923.
See Camera Portraits, nos. 6, 7

Catalogued portraits

    Captain Hume; Sir John Campbell, Bt,    by Roger Fenton,    1855,    NPG Ax24906,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Captain Hume; Sir John Campbell, Bt, by Roger Fenton, 1855

John Gay (1909-1999)

Photographer
John Gay (1909-1999) was born Hans Gohler into a large family in Karslruhe, Germany and became interested in photography when he left school. He attended art school in Paris and worked in photography in Germany before leaving in 1933 after Hitler came to power with the family of a friend Walter Stern and settled in Halifax, Yorkshire where the Sterns became his adoptive family. Martha Stern was later to photograph Gustav Holst and these portraits became part of the Gay bequest. In 1939 he joined the Pioneer Corps having adopted the English name John Gay from the Beggar's Opera. On his marriage to Marie Arnheim in 1942, (she had left Berlin in 1936), he settled in London, moving to Hampstead in 1951 where he spent the rest of his life, working as a photographer principally of architecture, railway stations and graveyards and producing six books of his work Gay also worked as a potter. He took portraits for the Strand Magazine, under the editorship of MacDonald Hastings, until its closure in March 1950 and thereafter for Country Fair. 20 prints were acquired from the photographer in 1993 for use in various displays together with copies of the Strand containing his published work for the magazine. The remainder of his portrait work came to the Gallery as a bequest from his widow in 2003. Original negatives relating to most of the sittings were received by the gallery in May 2005.
Other collections of John Gay's photographs can be found at the National Monuments Record (5000 photographs of geographical, agricultural and architectural interest) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (photographs of ironwork).

Catalogued portraits

Checklist of John Gay photographs taken for The Strand Magazine and Country Fair
The former may be consulted through the Archive and Library.

    Vita Sackville-West,    by John Gay,    1948,    NPG x126519,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Vita Sackville-West, by John Gay, 1948

Mark Gerson, b. 1921

144 literary subjects, 1952-2000, purchased from the photographer since 1967
See checklist catalogue with listing of 66 portraits for 1996 National Portrait Gallery retrospective exhibition: Literati: Photographs by Mark Gerson

Catalogued portraits

    Seamus Heaney,    by Mark Gerson,    June 1996,    NPG x88253,    © Mark Gerson / National Portrait Gallery, London Seamus Heaney, by Mark Gerson, June 1996

Francis Goodman, 1913-1989 (previously F.J. Gutman)

Photographer
Album (no. 203) containing 101 prints (mainly contact prints from 2 1/4 ins. negatives) and a series of autograph letters from various subjects, including Cecil Beaton, James Mason, Graham Sutherland; 1930s-1940s Purchased from the photographer in 1988.
500 (approx.) negatives 1940s-1960s. Bequeathed by the photographer.
Contents of album catalogued.
See Camera Portraits, no. 17

Catalogued portraits

    Francis Bacon,    by Francis Goodman,    May 1971,    NPG x74757,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Francis Bacon, by Francis Goodman, May 1971

Elsie Gordon, fl. 1920s

Photographer
62 snapshot prints and 6 original negatives of musical personalities including Sir Hugh Percy Allen, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Edward German, Eugene and Leon Goosens, Percy Grainger, Frieda Leider, Sir John McEwen, Sir Robert Mayer, Norman O'Neill, Maurice Ravel, Malcolm Sargent and Sir Henry Wood. Given by Dr Jonathan Harvey, 1984.
Catalogued.
See Camera Portraits, No. 93

Catalogued portraits

    Malcolm Sargent,    by Elsie Gordon,    1927,    NPG x20656,    © reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London Malcolm Sargent, by Elsie Gordon, 1927

Frederic G. Hodsoll, active c. 1900-10

Photographer
Albums (179 and 180) containing 65 prints on toned printing out paper of literary, theatrical and artistic celebrities, commissioned for the Tatler and other periodicals. Subjects include: Joseph Chamberlain, Alfred Austin, G.A. Storey, Henry Scott Tuke, Beatrice Harraden, Rosa Carey, Kitty Loftus and 4th Earl of Lucan. Purchased from the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral, May 1983
See Fashion in Photographs 1900-1920, Katrina Rolley (Batsford, 1993) nos. 4, 7, 9, 16, 17, 18, 30.
See Camera Portraits, no. 67

Catalogued portraits

    Arthur Morrison,    by Frederic G. Hodsoll,    1902,    NPG Ax25182,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Arthur Morrison, by Frederic G. Hodsoll, 1902

Paul Joyce, b. 1944

Photographer
51 black & white and colour prints, 1975-1977, 1979 (1). Purchased for use in NPG exhibition, 1978.
See NPG exhibition checklist: Paul Joyce -Photographs of Elders, 16 December 1977 - 5 February 1978.
See Camera Portraits, no. 139

Catalogued portraits

    William Golding,    by Paul Joyce,    May 1977,    NPG x13430,    © Paul Joyce / National Portrait Gallery, London William Golding, by Paul Joyce, May 1977

Ida Kar, 1907-1974

Photographer
Photographs from 1950s-early 1960s, subjects mainly writers and artists.
Born in Tambov, near Moscow, Kar took up photography with her first husband Edmond Belali and operated in Cairo as 'Idabel'. Married Victor Musgrave after meeting him in Cairo and exhibiting in two Surrealist exhibitions in Cairo (1943-1944). They moved to London in1945 living and working in and around Soho. Had a solo exhibition at the Whitechapel art gallery in 1960. The gallery acquired the Ida Kar archive in 1999 consisting of approximately 700 vintage prints, over 10,000 negatives and some written material.
71 prints including 24 vintage prints and 47 printed in 1981 from original negatives. Subjects mainly artists and writers of the 1950s, including Noel Coward, T.S. Eliot, F.E. McWilliam, Bridget Riley, Stanley Spencer and Stephen Spender.
See Val Williams Ida Kar - Photographer 1908-1974 (Virago, 1989)
See Camera Portraits, no. 125

Catalogued portraits

    Ida Kar,    by Ida Kar, assisted by  Julieta Preston (Julie Green),    1962,    NPG x88688,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Ida Kar, by Ida Kar, assisted by Julieta Preston (Julie Green), 1962

Lenare, active 1924-1977

Photographic studio
Portrait photography studio founded by and operated by Leonard Green in 1924, subsequently by his assistant John Cawthorne (ex-Hay Wrightson) (q.v) until closure in 1977.
7 miscellaneous prints and 425 (approx.) negatives 1953-1957. Given by Lenare (John Cawthorne), 1977.
See Lenare: the Art of Society Photography 1924-1977, compiled and edited by Nicholas de Ville, introductory essay by Anthony Haden-Guest (London: Allen Lane, 1981).

Catalogued portraits

    Vivien Leigh as Lady Teazle in 'The School for Scandal',    by Lenare,    24 April 1942,    NPG x898,    © reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London Vivien Leigh as Lady Teazle in 'The School for Scandal', by Lenare, 24 April 1942

Jorge Lewinski, b. 1921

Photographer
57 prints of subjects photographed between 1964-1969, purchased out of the Kodak Fund in 1970. Personalities including artists, (many illustrated in his 1987 book Portrait of the Artist : Twenty five years of British Art) and others such as Peggy Ashcroft, Clement Attlee, Adrian Boult, Beryl Grey, Jacquetta Hawkes, Dorothy Hodgkin, Pamela Hansford Johnson, Kathleen Kenyon, Jennie Lee, Elisabeth Lutyens, Iris Murdoch, Dilys Powell, Marie Rambert, Stevie Smith, Joan Sutherland, Sybil Thorndike, Rebecca West and the photographer's wife Mayotte Magnus. (see below)

Catalogued portraits

    Francis Bacon,    by J.S. Lewinski,    1967,    NPG x13707,    © The Lewinski Archive at Chatsworth / Bridgeman Images Francis Bacon, by J.S. Lewinski, 1967

Angus McBean, 1904-1990

Photographer
116 prints of subjects mainly from the theatre, including his surrealist series for The Sketch 1937-8. Collection comprises
1) Ten large-format vintage exhibition prints bought from the photographer at the time of his first major retrospective, A Darker Side of the Moon, Impressions Gallery, York in 1977 curated by Val Williams;
2) Eighteen Self-Portrait Christmas cards purchased at auction in 1992;
3) Fifty-two prints including literary, music, dance, theatre subjects and enlargements of Christmas card self-portraits were purchased in 2001 from the Adrian Woodhouse 1990 Estate. The majority of the photographs were first published in The Sketch, The Tatler and Bystander and Theatre World and then latterly in Adrian Woodlouse's comprehensive 1982 monograph published by Quartet Books.
Note McBean's original theatrical negatives were purchased in 1970 by the Harvard Theatre Collection in Cambridge, Massachusetts where Curator Fredric Woodbridge Wilson organised a centenary exhibition (Jan-April 2005) of over 100 new prints and published an accompanying catalogue.
A National Portrait Gallery exhibition wa held between 5 July and 22 October 2006.

Catalogued portraits

    Audrey Hepburn,    by Angus McBean,    October 1950,    NPG x25145,    © reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London Audrey Hepburn, by Angus McBean, October 1950

Mayotte Magnus, active from 1970

52 black & white and colour prints. Purchased from NPG exhibition, 1978.
See NPG exhibition checklist: Mayotte Magnus - Photographs of Women, 21 October - 11 December 1977.
See Camera Portraits, no. 138

Catalogued portraits

    Elisabeth Frink,    by Mayotte Magnus,    April 1974,    NPG x18614,    © Mayotte Magnus / National Portrait Gallery, London Elisabeth Frink, by Mayotte Magnus, April 1974

Lewis Morley, b. 1925

Photographer
275 prints from 1954-1971. 93 given by the photographer in 1989 for NPG retrospective exhibition. Others given by the photographer from 1981 onwards.
See Lewis Morley - Photographer of the Sixties, NPG Publications 1989, to accompany exhibition held from 15 September 1989 to 7
January 1990.
See Camera Portraits, no. 132

Catalogued portraits

    Christine Keeler,    by Lewis Morley,    June 1963,    NPG x88354,    © Lewis Morley Archive Christine Keeler, by Lewis Morley, June 1963

Lady Ottoline Morrell, 1873-1938

Amateur Photographer
The Lady Ottoline Morrell Collection was purchased in 2003 from the descendants of her daughter, Mrs Julian Vinogradoff with support from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Dame Helen Gardner Bequest. The collection consists of approximately 10,000 items. These include 12 Albums bound in white vellum with 3,953 prints pasted on dark blue paper, approximately 6,000 negatives and various loose prints.
Born Ottoline Violet Anne Cavendish-Bentinck, she was the half-sister of the 6th Duke of Portland. In 1902 she married Philip Morrell, who became a Liberal MP.
Lady Ottoline Morrell was an influential and generous hostess and patron of the arts. In 1907 she began organising weekly parties at 44 Bedford Square helping the careers of artists and writers. In 1915 Ottoline and her husband Philip, moved to Garsington Manor in Oxfordshire. Garsington became a refuge for conscientious objectors during the war years and a new centre for intellectual gatherings: Bertrand Russell, Aldous Huxley, T. S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Vanessa & Clive Bell, Lytton Strachey, Mark Gertler, John Middleton Murry, Katherine Mansfield, Siegfried Sassoon, W. B. Yeats and Gilbert & Stantley Spencer are some of the personalities that visited Garsington. In 1927 Ottoline and Philip moved back to London, 10 Gower Street where they continued to host parties.
The Albums date from 1907 and continue up until 27th September 1937, months before she died (21st April 1938).
Further reading see 'Ottoline Morrell: Life on a Grand Scale' (1998) by Miranda Seymour; 'Ottoline: The Early Memoirs of Lady Ottoline Morrell' (1963) Ed. by Robert Gathorne-Hardy; 'Ottoline at Garsington: Memoires of Lady Ottoline Morrell 1915-1918' (1974) Ed. by Robert Gathorne-Hardy; 'Lady Ottoline's Album: Snapshots & Portraits' (1976) Ed. by Carolyn G. Heilburn

Lady Ottoline Morrell Album Collection catalogued portraits Album 1, 1900-11 | Album 2, 1908-14 | Album 3, 1914-20 | Album 4, 1920-24 | Album 5, 1920-24 | Album 6, 1924-25 | Album 7, 1925-26 | Album 8, 1925-28 | Album 9, 1926-31 | Album 10, 1931-34 | Album 11, 1935 | Album 12, 1935-37

See British Library

    Lady Ottoline Morrell, with Philip Edward Morrell and their daughter, Julian Vinogradoff (née Morrell),    by Cavendish Morton,    circa 1911,    NPG P480,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Lady Ottoline Morrell, with Philip Edward Morrell and their daughter, Julian Vinogradoff (née Morrell), by Cavendish Morton, circa 1911

Eveleen Myers, 1856-1937

Photographer
Active as a photographer from late 1880s to early 1900s, Mrs Frederic W. H. Myers (nee Tennant). 29 miscellaneous prints. 2 albums containing 542 prints relating to her photographic career, life, family and friends. Purchased from her grandson Peter Myers, 1991.
Checklist in preparation.
See Edwardian Women Photographers in the NPG (1994).
See Camera Portraits, no. 58

Catalogued portraits

    Adelaide Augusta Floyd Passingham,    by Eveleen Myers (née Tennant),    1889,    NPG Ax36315,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Adelaide Augusta Floyd Passingham, by Eveleen Myers (née Tennant), 1889

National Photographic Record (NPR)

The National Photographic Record began in 1917 at the instigation of Walter Stoneman, the chief photographer for the long established firm of Russell & Sons. A selected range of eminent people of the day were invited to make an appointment to sit at Stoneman's studio and from each sitting a mounted print was added to the NPR.

Despite controversy caused by working exclusively with one selected photographer, the collection of postcard-sized prints of eminent people of the day grew over the years to an archive of over 10,000 subjects. Each year approximately 200 new subjects were added to an alphabetical sequence now housed in 436 boxes and viewable by appointment. Stoneman was succeeded, on his retirement and death, by Walter Bird (active 1958-1967), and then by Godfrey Argent (active 1967-1970).

In addition, the Gallery also holds approximately 10,000 NPR whole- and half-plate glass negatives taken between 1917 and 1958, arranged chronologically, which consist of up to five alternative poses taken at the NPR sitting.

List of subjects commissioned - 1917-1970


    Winston Churchill,    by Walter Stoneman,    3pm 1 April 1941,    NPG x6140,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Winston Churchill, by Walter Stoneman, 3pm 1 April 1941

Norman Parkinson, 1913-1990

Photographer
200 (approx.) black & white and colour prints 1949-1981. Printed from original negatives and transparencies, sponsored by Ilford Ltd and 3M Company. Prints given by the photographer after NPG exhibition, 1981.
See Photographs by Norman Parkinson: Fifty years of portraits and fashion (NPG, 1981) and annotated checklist of 236 exhibits.
See Camera Portraits, no. 133

Catalogued portraits

    Jean Seberg,    by Norman Parkinson,    1957,    NPG x30040,    © Norman Parkinson Archive/ Iconic Images Jean Seberg, by Norman Parkinson, 1957

Karl Pollak, 1902-1983

Photographer
64 large-format studio portrait exhibition prints with multiple exhibition labels from international camera clubs on reverse 1940s-1950s. Purchased out of the Kodak fund 1969-70.

Catalogued portraits

    (Frederick William Charles) John Farleigh,    by Karl Pollak,    circa 1948,    NPG x15018,    © reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London (Frederick William Charles) John Farleigh, by Karl Pollak, circa 1948

Rupert Potter, 1832-1914

Photographer
Rupert Potter photographs of the studio of Sir John Everett Millais (1829-1896). 14 envelopes in 2 boxes.
Basement 18-A-4
See Camera Portraits, no. 41

Catalogued portraits

    John Bright,    by Rupert Potter,    September 1871,    NPG x4952,    © National Portrait Gallery, London John Bright, by Rupert Potter, September 1871

Camille Silvy, 1835-1910

Photographer, active in London 1860-1866.
Studio at 38 Porchester Terrace, Bayswater.
120 (approx.) carte de visites.
Daybooks containing 15,000 (approx.) carte de visite size prints. 12 volumes. Purchased 1904.
Indexed. Catalogued onto Silvy database but restricted to names given in albums. Few on catalogue cards.
See Camera Portraits, no. 22

Camille Silvy Daybook catalogued portraits Volume 1, 1860 | Volume 2, 1860-61 | Volume 3, 1861 | Volume 4, 1861 | Volume 5, 1861-62 | Volume 6, 1862 | Volume 7, 1862-66 | Volume 8, 1862 | Volume 9, 1862 | Volume 10, 1862-63 | Volume 12, 1864-65 | Volume 13, 1865-66

    Adelina Patti as Lucia in 'Lucia de Lammermoor',    by Camille Silvy,    July 1861,    NPG x12677,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Adelina Patti as Lucia in 'Lucia de Lammermoor', by Camille Silvy, July 1861

Marion Harry Alexander Spielmann 1858-1948

Editor of the Magazine of Art
135 photographs, mainly cabinet photographs including some signed and inscribed of artists and architects. Ex coll. Sir Isidore Spielmann (1854-1924). Given, 1939.

Sir Benjamin Stone, 1838-1914

Photographer
2,000 platinum prints arranged in three sequences: M.P.s in alphabetical order; Visitors to and staff of Houses of Parliament in alphabetical order; Groups in date order and interiors. Given by the House of Commons Library, 1974.
Checklist in preparation.
See Camera Portraits, no. 73

Catalogued portraits

    Ramsay MacDonald,    by Benjamin Stone,    July 1907,    NPG x31583,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Ramsay MacDonald, by Benjamin Stone, July 1907

Walter Stoneman, 1876-1958

Chief photographer for Russell & Sons (founders of the National Photographic Record, 1917)
8,000 (approx.) prints and 10,000 (approx.) negatives, 1917-1950s.
See Camera Portraits, no. 111

Catalogued portraits

    Rudyard Kipling,    by Walter Stoneman,    9 November 1934,    NPG x11900,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Rudyard Kipling, by Walter Stoneman, 9 November 1934

Barbara Strachey album

Album 1 - America - Smith Family (Hannah when young and children)
Album 2 - America. Cousins - Smith, Whitall, Nicholson, Thomas. Mary, Alys, Logan at college
Album 3 - To England. Friends - Hannah Whitall Smith (middle age) - Frank Costelloe - Older Cousins, etc.
Album 4 - England (Weddings - Mary Whitall Smith (Costelloe) - Alys Pearsall Smith - Frank's friends - Friday's Hill House) Album 5 - Smiths and Costelloes
Album 6 - Places
Album 7 - Ray and Karin (Marriages and Children, 1912-1928)
Album 8 - Stracheys and Bloomsbury
Album 9 - Younger Stracheys and Stephens
Album 10 - I Tatti (Bernard Berenson, Mary Berenson, Nicky Mariano and their friends)
Album 11 - Alys Pearsall Smith, Logan Pearsall Smith, Bertie Russell, older Ray Strachey, Barbara Strachey at school and Oxford, Barbara on windjammer, 1st husband, birth of Roger, Roger in Italy.
Album 12 - Wolf Halpern and family, Michael Noble, Barbara Strachey's friends and later Christopher Strachey.

    Virginia Woolf,    by Barbara Strachey,    1938,    NPG Ax88536,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Virginia Woolf, by Barbara Strachey, 1938

Paul Tanqueray, 1905-1991

London studio photographer, active 1925-1965, at 139 Kensington High Street 1925-30, 8 Dover Street, 1930-37, 30 Thurloe Place, 1937-65.
67 prints. Given 1975.
600 (approx.) negatives 1925-1965. Given by the photographer in 1983.
Prints catalogued.
See Camera Portraits, no. 96

Catalogued portraits

    Gertrude Lawrence,    by Paul Tanqueray,    1932,    NPG x29700,    © estate of Paul Tanqueray Gertrude Lawrence, by Paul Tanqueray, 1932

Vandyk (floruit 1881-1943)

Photographic studio founded by Carl Vandyk (1851-1931). From 1881 to 1913 Vandyk Ltd. were based at 125 Gloucester Road and from 1901 to 1947 they had their premises at several addresses in Buckingham Palace Road. Carl Vandyk was succeeded by his son Herbert Vandyk (1880-1943), who had spent several years working for photographers in Berlin and Paris and having served his apprenticeship under his father. In 1913 Herbert Vandyk opened new studios in Buckingham Palace Road. The new premises consisted of two studios with six mercury vapour lamps, a lounge, four dressing rooms, offices and several dark rooms to accommodate the growth of the business. By 1916 there were over fifty members of staff employed there to deal with the huge quantity of work arising from the studio's success. In 1964 the company became 'Bassano and Vandyk Studio' and a year later it incorporated 'Elliott and Fry'.

Vandyk portraits | Bassano & Vandyk portraits

The Gallery holds approximately 2,500 negatives 15 x 12 in, 10 x 12 in., whole-plate, half-plate, quarter-plate, glass and film, 1890s-1950s. Given by Bassano and Vandyk, 1974.

Studios:125 Gloucester Road, Kensington 1881 - 1913.
37 Buckingham Palace Road, Westminster 1901 - 11.
39 Buckingham Palace Road, Westminster 1911 - 12. Studio rebuilt.
41 Buckingham Palace Road, Westminster 1912 - 47.

    Sir Bhupinder Singh, Maharaja of Patiala,    by Vandyk,    5 July 1911,    NPG x98678,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Sir Bhupinder Singh, Maharaja of Patiala, by Vandyk, 5 July 1911

Dorothy Wilding, 1893-1976

Photographer, active 1912-1958
710 prints, 321 negatives from London and New York studios. Given by her sister Mrs Susan Morton, 1976
1000 (approx.) negatives of royals and celebrities of the 1950s. Purchased from Tom Hustler, 1992.
See Dorothy Wilding - The Pursuit of Perfection (NPG, 1991) which accompanied exhibition held 5 July - 29 September 1991 for checklist of subjects in NPG collection.
See Camera Portraits, no. 102

Catalogued portraits

    Harry Belafonte,    by Dorothy Wilding,    25 February 1954,    NPG x4386,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Harry Belafonte, by Dorothy Wilding, 25 February 1954

Hay Wrightson Collection

(Stanley) Hay Wrightson (1874-1949) was born in Sunderland. In 1914 he married Alice May Flemming (1893-1944). In 1919 he was initiated into Freemasons, as was the case with many Court photographers. He opened his first London studio at 30 Bond Street in the early 1920s, moving to 41 New Bond Street in 1929. He joined the RPS in 1933, became an Associate in 1933 and exhibited in the RPS 80th Annual Exhibition (1935). His wife Alice was involved in the studio and joined the RPS in 1933. One of Wrightson’s studio assistants, John Cawthorne, described the daylight studio as right at the top of the building with oak panels and beautiful rich curtains. Appointed Court Photographer in 1936 Wrightson photographed many Royal sitters (notably the Coronation of King George VI in 1937) as well as military and debutant subjects that appeared in society magazines such as the Tatler. The studio continued to operate as Hay Wrightson Ltd after Hay Wrightson’s death in 1949.
The Gallery holds 115 glass plate negatives and a number of postcards by Hay Wrightson. On the closure of Hay Wrightson Ltd in 1975, 1400 prints and six ledgers were donated to the Gallery through the Imperial War Museum.

Hay Wrightson | Hay Wrightson Ltd

    King George VI; Princess Margaret; Queen Elizabeth II; Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother,    by Hay Wrightson,    12 May 1937,    NPG x32325,    © National Portrait Gallery, London King George VI; Princess Margaret; Queen Elizabeth II; Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, by Hay Wrightson, 12 May 1937

Madame Yevonde, 1893-1975

Madame Yevonde (1893–1975) was a London-based photographer of portraits and still life throughout much of the twentieth century. She was a pioneer in photographic techniques, experimenting with solarisation and associated particularly with the Vivex colour process, which she utilised to great effect in the 1930s. ‘If we are going to have colour photographs, for heaven’s sake let’s have a riot of colour, none of your wishy washy hand tinted effects’ said Madame Yevonde in 1932 in an address to the Royal Photographic Society.

Over 300 prints including vivex colour subjects. The majority given by the photographer in 1971.

View all portraits by and of Madame Yevonde held in the Collection


See Robin Gibson and Pamela Roberts Madame Yevonde - Colour, Fantasy and Myth (NPG, 1990) for checklist of NPG collection compiled by Ian Thomas.

Explore Madame Yevonde’s Berkley Square studio on our London Walking tours

As an innovator committed to colour photography when it was not considered a serious medium, Yevonde’s work is significant in the history of British portrait photography. Her most renowned body of work is a series of women dressed as goddesses posed in surreal tableaux exhibited in 1935.

For research and Madame Yevonde Collection enquiries email: [email protected] or [email protected]

For access to Madame Yevonde’s daybooks and archive materials email: [email protected]

To license and use images of Madame Yevonde’s colour work please visit NPG Images or email [email protected]

To license and use images of Madame Yevonde’s black and white work please visit Mary Evans Picture Library or email [email protected]

    Yevonde,    by Yevonde,    1940,    NPG P620,    © National Portrait Gallery, London Yevonde, by Yevonde, 1940

Other repositories include the Royal Photographic Society Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Council Visual Arts Collection.