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Christine Keeler

2 of 28 portraits of Christine Keeler

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Christine Keeler

by Lewis Morley
bromide print, 1963
Given by the photographer, Lewis Morley, 1992
Primary Collection
NPG P512(13)

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Lewis Morley (1925-2013), Photographer. Artist or producer of 308 portraits, Sitter in 5 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Lewis Morley's photograph of Christine Keeler sitting naked the wrong way round on a copy of a Arne Jacobsen chair sold by Habitat has become one of the defining images of the 1960s. A combination of pin-up and icon, suggestive both of sexual liberation and at the same time of the penalties of sexual exploitation, it occupies a morally ambiguous universe. It was taken in May 1963, when Christine Keeler came to Lewis Morley's studio over the Establishment Club in Greek Street to be photographed to promote a film on the Profumo Affair. One of the prints was stolen and published in the Sunday Mirror.

Related worksback to top

Linked publicationsback to top

  • 100 Portraits, p. 124
  • Pepper, Terence, Lewis Morley: Photographer of the Sixties, 1989 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 15 September 1989 - 7 January 1990), p. 17
  • Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery: An Illustrated Guide, 2000, p. 211
  • Saumarez Smith, Charles, The National Portrait Gallery, 1997, p. 211 Read entry

    Lewis Morley's photograph of Christine Keeler sitting naked the wrong way round on an Arne Jacobsen chair has become one of the defining images of the 1960s. A combination of pin-up and icon, suggestive both of sexual liberation and at the same time of the penalties of sexual exploitation, it occupies a morally ambiguous universe. It was taken in May 1963, when Christine Keeler came to Lewis Morley's studio over the Establishment Club in Greek Street to be photographed to promote a film on the Profumo Affair. One of the prints was stolen and published in the Sunday Mirror.

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 346
  • Various contributors, National Portrait Gallery: A Portrait of Britain, 2014, p. 263

Placesback to top

Mediaback to top

 

Events of 1963back to top

Current affairs

The Secretary of State for War, John Profumo is found to have lied to the House of Commons when he denied having an affair with the showgirl, Christine Keeler. The Profumo Affair was a public scandal for the Conservative party, and ultimately contributed to the resignation of Harold Macmillan.

Art and science

Doctor Who is first broadcast on the BBC with William Hartnell playing the Doctor. This long running science fiction series about an alien Time Lord who travels through time and space in his police-box-shaped Tardis has been watched by generations of viewers (often from behind the back of the sofa), and features imaginative, but traditionally low-budget, special effects, innovative electronic music, and the Doctor's greatest enemy, the Daleks.

International

John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Texas. The arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald for his murder did not prevent a score of conspiracy theories involving Cuba, the CIA, the KGB, and the Mafia among others.
Martin Luther King delivers his 'I have a dream' speech, marking an important moment in the civil rights movement in America and helping to secure him the Nobel Peace Prize' in 1964.

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Ivan Hamilton

31 December 2019, 14:56

I was General Marketing and Sales Manager Diethelm Office Furniture Limited in Sydney Australia.
Lewis Morley carried out a furniture photographic project work for me at a Sydney interior design exhibition plus other related projects.
Lewis discussed the Christine Keller photoshoot with me. Lewis told me that in the process of resolving the various individual considerations that he quickly went downstairs from the studio to borrow the Arne Jacobson copy chair. I can’t be certain whether he said that the chair was borrowed from the club downstairs or another nearby location.
I still have Lewis’ original contact sheets and diapositive slides of Lewis’ furniture photographic work completed for me.