Commissioning Photographs 1917-1970
Past display archive
23 January - 4 June 2006
Room 31 & Bookshop Gallery
Free
David Hockney
by Godfrey Argent
29 May 1969
NPG x127780
Before the National Portrait Gallery began to display photographs in the 1970s, a remarkable collection of over 10,000 photographic portraits was created documenting leading figures in British society from World War One up until the 'Swinging Sixties'. This display highlights these and features works by the three National Photographic Record photographers, Walter Stoneman, Walter Bird and Godfrey Argent.
The National Photographic Record was started in 1917 during the first World War at the instigation of Walter Stoneman, the chief photographer for the long established firm of Russell & Sons. A selected range of eminent people of the day were invited to make an appointment to sit at Stoneman's studio and from each sitting a mounted print was added to the NPR. The collection was for record purposes only with no intention of the results being exhibited.
Despite controversy caused by working exclusively with one selected photographer the collection of postcard-sized prints of eminent people of the day grew over the years to an archive of over 10,000 subjects. Each year approximately 200 new subjects were added to an alphabetical sequence now housed in 436 boxes and viewable by appointment. Stoneman was succeeded on his retirement by Walter Bird (active 1958-1967) and then by Godfrey Argent (active 1967-1970).
Links
- National Photographic Record holdings at the National Portrait Gallery
- List of subjects commissioned - 1917-1970
- Exhibition of the work of Godfrey Argent for the National Photographic Record, 1971
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Related portraits
- Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby (NPG x32770)
- Sir Mancherjee Merwanjee Bhownaggree (NPG x165175)
- Siegfried Sassoon (NPG x81395)
- Winston Churchill (NPG x6140)
- Alexander Fleming (NPG x32769)
- Laurence Olivier (NPG x21956)
- C.S. Lewis (NPG x45075)
- Lady (Helen) Cynthia Colville (née Crewe-Milnes) (NPG x165810)
- Dame Myra Hess (NPG x165784)
- Sybil Thorndike (NPG x165790)
- Maggie Teyte (NPG x165797)
- Kenneth Clark, Baron Clark (NPG x165789)
- Jo Grimond (NPG x165453)
- Margaret Thatcher (NPG x165791)
- Harold Wilson (NPG x45598)
- Tony Benn (NPG x165018)
- Sir Arthur Bliss (NPG x165317)
- Judith Constance Mary Hart (née Ridehalgh), Baroness Hart of South Lanark (NPG x165792)
- Dame Rebecca West (Cicily Isabel Andrews (née Fairfield)) (NPG x165793)
- Alfred Thompson ('Tom') Denning, Baron Denning (NPG x24056)
- Barbara Hepworth (NPG x165779)
- Jennie Lee (NPG x165795)
- Sir John Newenham Summerson (NPG x165794)
- Roland Penrose (NPG x165796)
- Tommy Steele (NPG x87791)
- Peter Sellers (NPG x165815)
- Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits (NPG x18719)
- Alf Ramsey (NPG x165814)
- Alison Smithson; Peter Smithson (NPG x165612)
- John Randall Bratby (NPG x165500)
- David Hockney (NPG x127780)
- Iris Murdoch (NPG x127781)
- Jacqueline du Pré (NPG x165788)
- Ronnie Scott (NPG x165785)
- Sean Connery (NPG x6352)
- Elisabeth Frink (NPG x32553)
- Hayley Mills (NPG x165646)
- Sir Robert Murray Helpmann (NPG x165743)
- (Keith) Rupert Murdoch (NPG x87788)
- Lynn Redgrave (NPG x165759)
- Stevie Smith (NPG x165749)
Related sitters
- Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby
- Anthony Wedgwood ('Tony') Benn
- Sir Mancherjee Merwanjee Bhownaggree
- Sir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss
- John Randall Bratby
- Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill
- Kenneth Clark, Baron Clark
- Lady (Helen) Cynthia Colville (née Crewe-Milnes)
- Sir (Thomas) Sean Connery
- Alfred Thompson ('Tom') Denning, Baron Denning
- Jacqueline Mary du Pré
- Sir Alexander Fleming
- Dame Elisabeth Jean Frink
- Joseph ('Jo') Grimond, Baron Grimond
- Judith Constance Mary Hart (née Ridehalgh), Baroness Hart of South Lanark
- Sir Robert Murray Helpmann
- Dame Barbara Hepworth
- Dame Myra Hess
- David Hockney
- Immanuel Jakobovits, Baron Jakobovits
- Janet ('Jennie') Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge
- Clive Staples ('C.S.') Lewis
- Hayley Mills
- Dame (Jean) Iris Murdoch
- (Keith) Rupert Murdoch
- Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier
- Sir Roland Algernon Penrose
- Sir Alfred Ernest ('Alf') Ramsey
- Lynn Rachel Redgrave
- Siegfried Loraine Sassoon
- Ronnie Scott (Ronald Schatt)
- Richard Henry ('Peter') Sellers
- Florence Margaret ('Stevie') Smith
- Alison Margaret Smithson
- Peter Denham Smithson
- Tommy Steele
- Sir John Newenham Summerson
- Dame Margaret ('Maggie') Teyte
- Margaret Hilda Thatcher (née Roberts), Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven
- Dame Sybil Thorndike
- Dame Rebecca West (Cicily Isabel Andrews (née Fairfield))
- (James) Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx