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Vita Sackville-West

(1892-1962), Writer and gardener; wife of Sir Harold Nicolson

Victoria Mary ('Vita') Sackville-West

Sitter associated with 29 portraits
Vita Sackville-West was born at Knole, Kent. Like her husband Harold Nicolson, Sackville-West was a prolific author and her publications include Knole and the Sackvilles (1922) about her birthplace and ancestry, the long poem The Land (1926), and the novel, All Passion Spent (1931). Her disappointment at being unable, as a woman, to inherit the Knole estate found positive expression in her subsequent collaboration with Nicolson on the garden of their home at Sissinghurst Castle. Her affair with Violet Trefusis, and her later relationship with Virginia Woolf, which inspired Woolf to write historical-fantasy novel Orlando (1928), provided the backdrop for her marriage to Nicolson.

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Vita Sackville-West, by E.O. Hoppé - NPG P1087

Vita Sackville-West

by E.O. Hoppé
sepia-toned matte bromide print, 28 February 1924
NPG P1087

Vita Sackville-West, by William Rothenstein - NPG 6716

Vita Sackville-West

by William Rothenstein
red and black chalk, 1925
NPG 6716

Vita Sackville-West, by Gisèle Freund - NPG P437

Vita Sackville-West

by Gisèle Freund
colour dye transfer print, 1939
NPG P437

Vita Sackville-West, by John Hedgecoe - NPG P775

Vita Sackville-West

by John Hedgecoe
bromide print, 1958
NPG P775

Vita Sackville-West, by Lord Snowdon - NPG P1917

Vita Sackville-West

by Lord Snowdon
gelatin silver print, 5 June 1961
NPG P1917

'Work in Progress',  - NPG 7145

'Work in Progress'

acrylic on paper collaged on panels, 2021-2022
On display in Room 33 on Floor 0 at the National Portrait Gallery
NPG 7145

Vita Sackville-West, by Speaight Ltd, published by  Hudson & Kearns Ltd - NPG Ax135793

Vita Sackville-West

by Speaight Ltd, published by Hudson & Kearns Ltd
photogravure, 20 June 1911, published 1912
NPG Ax135793

'The Great Petticoat Lane Fair: Some Prominent Stallholders at the Albert Hall', by Unknown photographer - NPG Ax105838

'The Great Petticoat Lane Fair: Some Prominent Stallholders at the Albert Hall'

by Unknown photographer
halftone reproduction tear sheet, 1915-1916
NPG Ax105838

Vita Sackville-West; Olive Elizabeth Chalk Rubens (née Hood), by E.O. Hoppé - NPG x136836

Vita Sackville-West; Olive Elizabeth Chalk Rubens (née Hood)

by E.O. Hoppé
halftone reproduction tear sheet, published 28 June 1916
NPG x136836

Vita Sackville-West, by Howard Coster - NPG x12029

Vita Sackville-West

by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1934
NPG x12029

Vita Sackville-West, by Howard Coster - NPG x12030

Vita Sackville-West

by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1934
NPG x12030

Vita Sackville-West, by Howard Coster - NPG x12031

Vita Sackville-West

by Howard Coster
10 x 8 inch film negative, 1934
NPG x12031

Vita Sackville-West, by Howard Coster - NPG x23916

Vita Sackville-West

by Howard Coster
half-plate film negative, 1934
NPG x23916

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Anne Matthews

04 September 2019, 23:18

Jane Bown photographed Vita Sackville-West in 1960. Reference ‘Exposures’, pub. 2009 by Guardian books. Arresting images of later life.