Lily Elsie
1 portrait of Lily Elsie
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Lily Elsie
by Foulsham & Banfield, published by Rotary Photographic Co Ltd
bromide postcard print, 1908-1909
4 7/8 in. x 3 1/4 in. (125 mm x 81 mm)
Accepted in lieu of tax by H.M. Government and allocated to the Gallery, 1991
Photographs Collection
NPG x126283
Sitterback to top
- Lily Elsie (Mrs Bullough) (1886-1962), Actress and singer. Sitter in 171 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- Foulsham & Banfield (active 1900s-1920s), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 471 portraits.
- Rotary Photographic Co Ltd (active 1897-1916), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 1423 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Beaton's photographs of the costumes he designed for My Fair Lady on the New York and London stage and for the Oscar-winning film drew on his Edwardian photographs and cuttings. Audrey Hepburn's Ascot dress was inspired by a Gaby Deslys concoction, and the gown Hepburn wore to the Embassy Ball was inspired by Lily Elsie at the time of The Merry Widow (1907). Constance Drever's costume for Nightbirds (1911) was used in reverse for a design for one of the extras in a scene above.
Subjects & Themesback to top
Events of 1908back to top
Current affairs
Henry Asquith replaces Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Liberal leader and Prime Minister, with David Lloyd George taking control of the Exchequer. Asquith and Lloyd George embark on a bold programme of social reform, laying the foundations of the Welfare State, introducing government pensions this year and later a system of National Insurance.The first aeroplane for the British army is built by the American, Samuel Cody.
Art and science
E.M. Forster's novel A Room with a View is published, following the experiences of a young woman, Lucy Honeychurch, in the repressed culture of Edwardian England.The French art critic Louis Vauxcelles first uses the term 'cubism' to refer to a landscape painting by Georges Braque.
International
King Carlos of Portugal and his heir, Prince Luis Filipe, are killed by assassins from the Republican trying to provoke a revolution. Carlos I, unpopular because of his extravagant lifestyle and extramarital affairs, was succeeded by his younger son, Manuel, the last monarch of the Braganza dynasty.Following the death of the Guangxu Emperor in China, his two year old nephew replaces him, becoming the the last Manchu emperor of China.
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