Zena Dare; Alice Crawford
1 portrait by Hugh Cecil (Hugh Cecil Saunders)
© reserved; collection National Portrait Gallery, London
Zena Dare; Alice Crawford
by Hugh Cecil (Hugh Cecil Saunders)
bromide print, 25 June 1914
8 1/8 in. x 6 1/4 in. (205 mm x 160 mm) image size
Given by Terence Pepper, 2013
Photographs Collection
NPG x194075
Sittersback to top
- Alice Crawford (1882-1931), Actress; wife of Valentine Williams. Sitter in 15 portraits.
- Zena Dare (Florence Harriette Zena Dones) (1887-1975), Actress. Sitter in 79 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Hugh Cecil (Hugh Cecil Saunders) (1892-1974), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 43 portraits.
Events of 1914back to top
Current affairs
Following Germany's declaration of war on France and invasion of Belgium, Herbert Henry Asquith, the British Prime Minister, declares war on the German Empire on August 4, 1914. The popular belief that the conflict would be 'over by Christmas' was soon found to be a bitter underestimate of the scale of the war.Art and science
The fist issue of the periodical Blast is published by Wyndham Lewis, announcing the advent of Vorticism. This movement, named by Ezra Pound and taking in art and poetry, combined the vitality and dynamism of Italian Futurism with the geometric structure of Cubism. Vorticism was a direct challenge to the perceived quaint and domestic style of the Bloomsbury group and Roger Fry's Omega Workshop.International
On June 28th 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated in Sarajevo leading to Austria's declaration of war against Serbia and triggering the First World War. Germany declared war on Serbia's ally, Russia, and then marched on France via Belgium. Soon all of Europe and most of the world was embroiled in total war.Comments back to top
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John Culme
13 April 2020, 10:49
Alice Crawford and the Hon. Mrs. Maurice Brett (Zena Dare) were among many celebrities who attended the fancy dress Midnight Ball, held at the Savoy Hotel, London on Thursday, 25 June 1914, in aid of the National Institute for the Blind. This photograph among others marking the occasion was published in The Sketch, London, Wednesday, 1 July 1914, p. 393.
Miss Crawford had already appeared in the same costume earlier that year at the All Fools' Day Ball at Covent Garden. For photographs, see the following: The Tatler, London, Wednesday, 8 April 1914, p. 42; The Sketch, London, Wednesday, 8 April 1914, pp. 8 and 9; The Sketch, London, Wednesday, 8 April 1914, pp. 8 and 9; The Sphere, London, Saturday, 11 April 1914, p. 35.