Ghost Seen at Denham (Lytton Strachey; Anna Neagle)

1 portrait of Lytton Strachey

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Ghost Seen at Denham (Lytton Strachey; Anna Neagle)

after Anthony Wysard
colour relief halftone, published in 'The Tatler' 29 September 1937
12 1/2 in. x 9 in. (318 mm x 230 mm) paper size
Purchased, 2015
Reference Collection
NPG D45907

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Artistback to top

  • Anthony Wysard (1907-1984), Caricaturist. Artist or producer associated with 58 portraits, Sitter associated with 2 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Printed in the Tatler magazine in September 1937, this caricature represents the actress Anna Neagle in her dressing room at Denham Studios for the film Victoria the Great, based on Laurence Housman’s Victoria Regina. The production had royal approval, having been commissioned by King Edward VIII from director Herbert Wilcox. Wysart depicts Neagle visited by the ghost of the writer Lytton Strachey whose irreverent book Eminent Victorians (1918) revealed details of Queen Victoria’s private life. However, while Strachey sought to puncture what he saw as the moral pretensions of Queen Victoria, the tone of Neagle’s film was wholly complimentary.

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Events of 1937back to top

Current affairs

George VI becomes king. The younger brother of Edward VIII was crowned on the 12th May and the coronation was broadcast to Britain and the Empire on the radio. Edward becomes the Duke of Windsor, although the rank of 'Royal Highness' is not extended to Wallis Simpson.
Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister following Baldwin's retirement.

Art and science

Roland Penrose organises a tour of Picasso's painting Guernica to the UK. The painting, which shows the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, went on display at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in East London

International

Commercial airship travel is brought to an end with the 'Hindenberg Disaster'. The German airship exploded while landing in New Jersey. The radio broadcaster Herbert Morrison's reaction has become legendary: 'Oh, the humanity!'
Japan invades China, killing about 25,000. Japanese Troops committed numerous atrocities against soldiers and civilians in what became known as the 'Rape of Nanking'.

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