Twiggy

1 portrait of Twiggy

© estate of Ronald Traeger

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Twiggy

by Ronald Traeger
archival Hahnemuehle print, 1967
15 1/4 in. x 10 1/4 in. (388 mm x 260 mm) image size
Given by Tessa Traeger
Photographs Collection
NPG x134359

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Ronald Traeger (1936-1968), Photographer. Artist or producer of 8 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Pepper, Terence (introduction) Muir, Robin (appreciation) Sokolsky, Melvin (appreciation), Twiggy: A Life In Photographs, 2009 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 18 September 2009 to 24 March 2010), p. 67
  • Various contributors, National Portrait Gallery: A Portrait of Britain, 2014, p. 232 Read entry

    Born Lesley Hornby, Twiggy was so named for her twig-like appearance when she first started modelling. Standing 5ft 6in tall and weighing just 6 ½ stone, she created a new type of image with her freckled face and distinctive eye make-up. Her career as a fashion model was launched when Barry Lategan’s photographs of her, with a distinctive haircut created by Leonard, were published in the Daily Express, which declared Twiggy ‘the Face of 1966’. Arguably the world’s first supermodel, Twiggy’s characteristic Sixties look was celebrated in studies by photographers such as Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Lewis Morley, Norman Parkinson, Melvin Sokolsky and Bert Stern.

    Ronald Traeger (1936–68) photographed her on a number of occasions. This ‘action realism’ image, taken of her riding a moped in Battersea Park and wearing designs by Foale and Tuffin, was part of a portfolio of six studies for British Vogue published in July 1967. Twiggy later developed a career as an actress, dancer and television personality, which included playing the lead in Ken Russell’s film The Boyfriend (1971) and in the Broadway musical My One and Only (1983–4).

Placesback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1967back to top

Current affairs

Harold Wilson decides to devalue the pound by nearly 15% in order to ' break out from the straitjacket' of boom and bust economics. The decision was controversial and prompted Wilson to reassure the public that the 'pound in your pocket' would not be worth any less.

Art and science

The Beatles release Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with a record sleeve designed by pop artist, Peter Blake. The band's musical experimentation and colourful new look was an example of psychedelic, and the LP is often regarded as one of the first concept albums.

International

Che Guevara is captured and executed in Bolivia. The guerrilla leader and revolutionary icon was hunted down by the CIA and captured and shot by Bolivian Special Forces. He had been leading Bolivian insurgents in an attempt to overthrow the government.

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