Bernard Kops; Erica Kops (née Gordon) and their son Adam Kops

1 portrait of Bernard Kops

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© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Bernard Kops; Erica Kops (née Gordon) and their son Adam Kops

by Ida Kar
vintage bromide print, 1960
10 in. x 10 3/8 in. (255 mm x 264 mm)
Purchased, 1999
Photographs Collection
NPG x125530

Sittersback to top

Artistback to top

  • Ida Kar (1908-1974), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 1567 portraits, Sitter in 137 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Kar photographed Kops with his wife Erica, a scientist, whom he had met in a coffee house, and their son Adam, who later became a sculptor, in their Monmouth Street home. In his review of Kar's Whitechapel exhibition, for the Tribune newspaper, Kops wrote: 'Her artists are human no matter what … apart from being decorative, art can show people to people.'

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Freestone, Clare (appreciation) Wright, Karen (appreciation), Ida Kar Bohemian Photographer, 2011 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 10 March to 19 June 2011), p. 100 Read entry

    Kops was born into a Jewish family in the East End of London, the setting for his first play The Hamlet of Stepney Green (1957). He ran a bookstall at Cambridge Circus (1953-7), not far from Gallery One at Litchfield Street, and became friends with Kar and Musgrave. Here Kar photographed Kops with his wife Erica (a scientist whom he had met in a coffee house and married in 1956) and son Adam (who later became a sculptor) in their Monmouth Street home. Colin Maclnnes used the couple as models for characters Mannie and Miriam Katz in Absolute Beginners (1959). Kops returned to his childhood neighbourhood to review Kar's Whitechapel exhibition for the socialist Tribune newspaper, writing; 'Her artists are human no matter what ... apart being decorative, art can show people to people ...' As well as subsequent plays, including Ezra (1981) and Playing Sinatra (1991), Kops has written poetry, most recently This Room in the Sunlight (2010), novels, an autobiography and scripts for radio and television.

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Events of 1960back to top

Current affairs

Prince Andrew is born, the third child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.
The Contraceptive Pill is introduced in England, dramatically changing the nation's approach to sex and relationships, and significantly contributing to the 1960s culture of liberation.

Art and science

Penguin books defend D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover against charges of obscenity by demonstrating that the novel was of literary merit. The 'not guilty' verdict was seen as a victory for free speech and marked the beginning if a new era of liberalism.
The satirical revue Beyond the Fringe launches the careers of Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller.

International

Harold Macmillan delivers his 'wind of change' speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town, announcing Britain's decision to grant independence to many of her colonies. The speech recognised the emergence of African nationalism, and criticised the policy of Apartheid in South Africa.

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