4 OF 5 
Wystan Hugh ('W.H.') Auden
4 of 5 portraits by Richard Avedon
Wystan Hugh ('W.H.') Auden
by Richard Avedon
bromide print, 1960
23 5/8 in. x 19 in. (600 mm x 483 mm)
Given by the photographer, Richard Avedon, 1995
Primary Collection
NPG P614
Sitter
Wystan Hugh ('W.H.') Auden (1907-1973), Poet. Sitter in 40 portraits.
Artist
Richard Avedon (1923-2004). Artist of 5 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.
This Portrait
In the late 1950s Auden returned to England, where he had been elected professor of poetry at Oxford. Despite residual hostility in his home country caused by his move to America, his three annual lectures were highly successful and published in The Dyer's Hand (1962). Auden continued to spend his winters in New York, and this portrait was taken near his apartment in St Mark's Place, the year he published Homage to Clio.
Linked Publications
The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 209
Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: an illustrated guide, 2000, p. 209
Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 209
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 23
Subject/Theme
