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Howard Coster

(1885-1959), Photographer

Sitter in 5 portraits
Artist associated with 9348 portraits
Howard Coster was born in London on 27 April 1885. He was introduced to photography through his uncle who owned a photographic studio where Coster worked before he moved to South Africa to try his hand at farming. After serving in the RAF during the war he worked in a studio in South Africa where he met his future wife Joan Burr, who was also a photographer. In 1926 they moved London and opened a studio on Essex Street. Coster quickly received commissions and began to use the credit line 'Coster, Photographer of Men'. Over the next twenty years he photographed most of the leading figures in politics, literature and the arts and his work was frequently published in magazines. The National Portrait Gallery holds around 8,000 negatives, 2,000 prints, 12 albums and archive material from the Coster studio and in 1985 held a retrospective of Coster’s work.

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Howard Coster, by Eric Gill - NPG 5196

Howard Coster

by Eric Gill
pencil, 1931
NPG 5196

Howard Coster, by Keith Medley - NPG x25135

Howard Coster

by Keith Medley
cream-toned bromide print on card, 1939
NPG x25135

Photographing me' (H.M. Bateman; Howard Coster), by H.M. Bateman - NPG D2119

Photographing me' (H.M. Bateman; Howard Coster)

by H.M. Bateman
pen and ink, 1933
NPG D2119

Web image not currently available

Howard Coster

by Unknown photographer
bromide print, 1950s
NPG x1799

Web image not currently available

Tom Hopkinson; Howard Coster

by Godfrey Cake
bromide print, 1953
NPG x1925

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