Howard Coster
(1885-1959), PhotographerSitter in 5 portraits
Artist associated with 9349 portraits
Howard Coster was born in London on 27 April 1885. He was introduced to photography through his uncle who owned a photographic studio where Coster worked before he moved to South Africa to try his hand at farming. After serving in the RAF during the war he worked in a studio in South Africa where he met his future wife Joan Burr, who was also a photographer. In 1926 they moved London and opened a studio on Essex Street. Coster quickly received commissions and began to use the credit line 'Coster, Photographer of Men'. Over the next twenty years he photographed most of the leading figures in politics, literature and the arts and his work was frequently published in magazines. The National Portrait Gallery holds around 8,000 negatives, 2,000 prints, 12 albums and archive material from the Coster studio and in 1985 held a retrospective of Coster’s work.
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1920s
NPG P1384
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1920s
NPG P1385
by Howard Coster
toned semi-matt print, 1926
NPG P713
A.A. Milne; Christopher Robin Milne
by Howard Coster
sepia toned gelatin silver print, 1926
NPG P715
by Howard Coster
gelatin silver print, 1934
NPG P714
by Howard Coster
half-plate nitrate negative, 1920s
NPG x24526
by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1920s
NPG x11215
by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1920s
NPG x11216
by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1920s
NPG x11217
by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1920s
NPG x11218
by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1920s
NPG x11219
by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1920s
NPG x20998
by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1920s
NPG x20999
by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1920s
NPG x21000
by Howard Coster
toned bromide print on flock paper, 1926
NPG Ax2243
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1926
NPG Ax2244
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1926
NPG Ax2260
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1926
NPG Ax3462
Sep E. Scott (Septimus Edwin Scott)
by Howard Coster
bromide print, 1926
NPG Ax3463
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.
Related pages
- Margery Allingham
- Centenary of flight
- Centenaries and Centenarians
- Reviewers Revealed: Celebrating the TLS Centenary
- Photographic holdings - print and negative collections
- Photographic holdings Albums 1-75
- Learn more
- Herbert Morrison: The Cockney Socialist
- In Close Up: Laurence Olivier
- The Lure of the Limelight James Abbe, Photographer of Cinema and Stage
- Margot Asquith: A Modern Woman
- Reviewers Revealed: Celebrating the TLS Centenary
- Shakespeare: Stage and Screen
- Family Album
Jane Liddell-King
22 July 2020, 20:17
He photographed L. Susan Stebbing who was educated at Girton College and became the first woman to hold a Chair in Philosophy in Britain. She wa also the first woman president of the Humanists in the UK.