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Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton

2 of 38 portraits of Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton

© Arnold Newman / Getty Images

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Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton

by Arnold Newman
bromide print, 1954
13 1/4 in. x 10 3/8 in. (337 mm x 263 mm)
Purchased, 1976
Primary Collection
NPG P44

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Arnold Newman (1918-2006), Photographer. Artist or producer of 62 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Rogers, Malcolm, Camera Portraits, 1989 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 20 October 1989 - 21 January 1990), p. 269 Read entry

    Born into the family publishing house, Harold Macmillan first entered Parliament as MP for Stockton-on-Tees in 1924. He was something of a rebel, and had to wait sixteen years for a government job - until Churchill, another rebel, recognized his qualities. Elected leader of the Conservative Party in succession to Anthony Eden in 1957 in the aftermath of the Suez crisis, 'Supermac', as he came to be known, set about restoring confidence both in his party and the country. A hatred of poverty drew him to policies of economic expansion and social benefits; he restored the relationship between Britain and America, strove for détente between the West and the Soviet Union, felt the 'wind of change' blowing in Africa and the need for decolonisation, and attempted to forge a new relationship with Europe. Behind a studied 'Edwardian' manner lay a subtle and, when necessary, ruthless intelligence, which enlivened his later role as distinguished elder statesman.

    Arnold Newman was born in New York, studied at the University of Miami, and trained as a photographer in Philadelphia. He opened his first studio in Miami Beach in 1942, moving to New York in 1946, and has established himself as one of America's leading portraitists. His exhibition The Great British was shown at the Gallery in 1979, and revealed a style which though restrained is none the less inventive. He studies his sitters in advance, and depicts them in a setting which is not just symbolic, but also symptomatic, of their life and work. Macmillan is photographed as Minister of Housing, and Newman makes great play with the impedimenta of office which surround the successful minister, who had just achieved his target of 300,000 new houses in a year.

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 590

Events of 1954back to top

Current affairs

Roger Bannister runs the four-minute mile. Bannister was the first man to achieve the 'miracle mile', a feat that was thought by some to be impossible, beating his rival, the Australian John Landy, to the record. Bannister went on to a career as a distinguished neurologist.
Food rationing ends in Britain.

Art and science

J.R.R. Tolkien publishes the first two parts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Tolkien was an Oxford professor of Anglo-Saxon language and literature and drew on his scholarly interests in history, language and mythology to create the fictional land of Middle Earth where the books are set.
Williams Golding publishes, Lord of the Flies.

International

The South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) is established in Bangkok. This international defence organisation was established as part of the 'containment' policy of limiting the influence of communism. SEATO was, however, found to be ineffective as the member organisations failed to agree on combined action; it was disbanded in 1977.

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