Oliver Strachey
1 portrait of Oliver Strachey
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Oliver Strachey
by Ray Strachey
4 1/2 x 3 1/4 inch negative, 1914
Given by Barbara Strachey (Hultin, later Halpern), 1999
Photographs Collection
NPG x88557
Sitterback to top
- Oliver Strachey (1874-1960), Musician, civil servant and author; cryptographer. Sitter in 49 portraits, Artist or producer associated with 1 portrait.
Artistback to top
- Rachel Pearsall Conn ('Ray') Strachey (née Costelloe) (1887-1940), Feminist activist, artist and writer. Artist or producer associated with 99 portraits, Sitter associated with 64 portraits.
Events of 1914back to top
Current affairs
Following Germany's declaration of war on France and invasion of Belgium, Herbert Henry Asquith, the British Prime Minister, declares war on the German Empire on August 4, 1914. The popular belief that the conflict would be 'over by Christmas' was soon found to be a bitter underestimate of the scale of the war.Art and science
The fist issue of the periodical Blast is published by Wyndham Lewis, announcing the advent of Vorticism. This movement, named by Ezra Pound and taking in art and poetry, combined the vitality and dynamism of Italian Futurism with the geometric structure of Cubism. Vorticism was a direct challenge to the perceived quaint and domestic style of the Bloomsbury group and Roger Fry's Omega Workshop.International
On June 28th 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated in Sarajevo leading to Austria's declaration of war against Serbia and triggering the First World War. Germany declared war on Serbia's ally, Russia, and then marched on France via Belgium. Soon all of Europe and most of the world was embroiled in total war.Comments back to top
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Jennifer Holmes
27 August 2015, 19:06
I am not convinced by the dating of this. Oliver was 54 in 1928 but this is the picture of a much younger man (compare the photos of him in the 1930s such as Ax160951 and NPGx88557. I would date it as no later than 1920 and very possibly as early as 1911 (the earliest possible date, given that the photo was taken by his wife, who only met him in 1911).