George Bernard Shaw

1 portrait of George Bernard Shaw

© William Hustler and Georgina Hustler / National Portrait Gallery, London

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George Bernard Shaw

by Dorothy Wilding
chlorobromide print on card mount, 1928
11 1/4 in. x 8 3/8 in. (285 mm x 212 mm) image size
Given by the photographer's sister, Susan Morton, 1976
Photographs Collection
NPG x13457

Sitterback to top

  • George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Playwright. Sitter in 148 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 8 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Dorothy Wilding (1893-1976), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 2179 portraits, Sitter in 30 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Pepper, Terence, In Pursuit of Perfection: The Photographs of Dorothy Wilding, 1991 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 July 1991 - 29 September 1991), p. 53 Read entry

    At the 1928 Salon Wilding's exhibits included portraits of the cellist Beatrice Harrison, whose career she chronicled throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the young Jessie Matthews, whom she had photographed in C. B. Cochran's popular revue Wake Up and Dream! and George Bernard Shaw. Shaw's arrival at the studio had been unannounced and unexpected. He had gone to Bertha Hammond's hairdressing salon, situated in the same building as the studio, and being pleased with his haircut decided to have his photograph taken. Wilding was hastily contacted at the consulting rooms of her Harley Street doctor. Her two successful portraits show Shaw twinkling as ever in rapt attention, craning forward due to his partial deafness to catch what she was saying. The portrait of Shaw holding his hands to his head became even more well known when it was cast in bronze by Kathleen Scott, Lady Kennet. The other pose is reproduced on the dust jacket of Wilding's autobiography.

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Events of 1928back to top

Current affairs

The Representation of the People Act 1928 grants women the same rights to vote as men. Building on reform of 1918, this Act lowered the voting age for women from 30 to 21, and removed the ownership of property requirements.

Art and science

Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin. The Scottish scientist's identification of the first antibiotic revolutionised the treatment of infection and is a landmark in medical history. By the Second World War, penicillin was being used to treat wounded soldiers and had a major impact on survival rates of those with infected wounds.

International

Stalin announces the Soviet Union's first Five-Year plan of economic development. Based on Lenin's New Economic Policy, the Five-Year Plans aimed to expand the country's economy through rapid centralised industrialisation.

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