First Previous 15 OF 15 NextLast

Dame Ethel Walker

15 of 15 portraits by Humphrey Spender

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation

Dame Ethel Walker

by Humphrey Spender
vintage bromide print, 1938
7 1/8 in. x 4 3/4 in. (180 mm x 120 mm)
Purchased, 1981
Photographs Collection
NPG x14267

Sitterback to top

  • Dame Ethel Walker (1861-1951), Painter and sculptor. Sitter in 2 portraits, Artist or producer of 2 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Humphrey Spender (1910-2005), Photographer, artist and designer. Artist or producer of 15 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Spender recalls going to photograph Walker and spending twelve hours absorbed by her personality and by her art. This portrait is a variant pose of the image chosen and published in Picture Post for a story on London's Bohemia.

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1938back to top

Current affairs

Britain pursues its policy of appeasement. At the Munich Agreement, Britain, France and Italy agreed to allow Hitler to seize the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia. The agreement was seen at the time as a triumph for peace, with Neville Chamberlain returning home brandishing the paper agreement and saying 'peace for our time.' Within six months Germany had occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.

Art and science

Graham Greene publishes Brighton Rock. The novel follows the descent of Pinky, a teenage gang leader in Brighton's criminal underworld. The book examines the criminal mind and explores the themes of morality and sin - recurrent concerns for the Roman Catholic Author.
Glasgow hosts the Empire Exhibition; an £11 million celebration of the British Empire visited by 13 million people.

International

In its pursuit of 'Lebensraum' (living space), Germany annexes Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia with little opposition from the League of Nations. At home, the Nazis continued their escalating persecution of the Jews with 'Kristallnacht' (the Night of Broken Glass), attacking Jewish homes, shops, businesses and synagogues, and taking Jewish men to concentration camps.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.