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Edward Morgan ('E.M.') Forster

(1879-1970), Novelist

Sitter in 44 portraits
Novelist, short story writer and essayist. A comic moralist in the tradition of Jane Austen in works such as A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and A Passage to India (1924), Forster tackled taboo issues of class and race. These works established Forster's reputation as an important literary figure, although Maurice (1914), his novel addressing homosexuality, was not published until 1971. Forster was invited by Britten to lecture at the first Aldeburgh Festival in 1948, and the following year he took on the role of co-librettist with Eric Crozier for Billy Budd.

Watch a film clip on the sitter from the BBC Archive in the Media section below

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E.M. Forster, by Duncan Grant - NPG 5494

E.M. Forster

by Duncan Grant
pencil, 1919
NPG 5494

E.M. Forster, by Dora Carrington - NPG 4698

E.M. Forster

by Dora Carrington
oil on canvas, 1920
On display in Room 31 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 4698

The Memoir Club, by Vanessa Bell - NPG 6718

The Memoir Club

by Vanessa Bell
oil on canvas, circa 1943
On display in Room 31 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 6718

E.M. Forster, by Feliks Topolski - NPG 6326

E.M. Forster

by Feliks Topolski
pen and ink, circa 1960
NPG 6326

E.M. Forster, by Don Bachardy - NPG 6383

E.M. Forster

by Don Bachardy
pencil, 1961
NPG 6383

E.M. Forster, by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax140740

E.M. Forster

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1920
NPG Ax140740

E.M. Forster, by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax140742

E.M. Forster

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1920
NPG Ax140742

Philip and Julian with Garsington visitors, by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax141323

Philip and Julian with Garsington visitors

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922-1923
NPG Ax141323

Mark Gertler; Julian Vinogradoff (née Morrell); Henry William Massingham; E.M. Forster, by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax141325

Mark Gertler; Julian Vinogradoff (née Morrell); Henry William Massingham; E.M. Forster

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141325

Henry William Massingham; Mark Gertler; E.M. Forster; Julian Vinogradoff (née Morrell), by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax141326

Henry William Massingham; Mark Gertler; E.M. Forster; Julian Vinogradoff (née Morrell)

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141326

E.M. Forster, by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax141327

E.M. Forster

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141327

E.M. Forster with Lady Ottoline Morell's pug Soie, by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax141328

E.M. Forster with Lady Ottoline Morell's pug Soie

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141328

E.M. Forster, by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax141329

E.M. Forster

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, circa 1922
NPG Ax141329

E.M. Forster, by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax141330

E.M. Forster

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1922
NPG Ax141330

E.M. Forster, by Lady Ottoline Morrell - NPG Ax141392

E.M. Forster

by Lady Ottoline Morrell
vintage snapshot print, 1923
NPG Ax141392

E.M. Forster, by Fred Stein, for Camera Press: London: UK - NPG x139893

E.M. Forster

by Fred Stein, for Camera Press: London: UK
bromide press print, 1935
NPG x139893

E.M. Forster, by Howard Coster - NPG x10403

E.M. Forster

by Howard Coster
35mm film negative, June 1938
NPG x10403

E.M. Forster, by Howard Coster - NPG x10404

E.M. Forster

by Howard Coster
35mm film negative, June 1938
NPG x10404

E.M. Forster, by Howard Coster - NPG x10405

E.M. Forster

by Howard Coster
35mm film negative, June 1938
NPG x10405

E.M. Forster, by Howard Coster - NPG x10406

E.M. Forster

by Howard Coster
35mm film negative, June 1938
NPG x10406

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