Joan Craven
(1897-1979), PhotographerArtist of 17 portraits
by Joan Craven
bromide postcard print, early 1920s
NPG x198084
by Joan Craven
bromide postcard print, 1920s
NPG x198131
by Joan Craven
cream-toned print on cream-toned mount, 1925
NPG x39234
by Joan Craven
cream-toned print on cream card mount, 1925
NPG x39235
by Joan Craven
cream-toned print, 1925
NPG x39236
by Joan Craven
cream-toned print on black tint and white mount, 1925
NPG x39237
by Joan Craven
cream-toned print on black tint on white card, 1925
NPG x39238
by Joan Craven
cream-toned print on white card and tint mount, 1925
NPG x39239
by Joan Craven
cream-toned bromide print on white card and tint mount, 1925
NPG x39240
by Joan Craven
cream-toned bromide print on white card and black tint mount, 1925
NPG x39241
by Joan Craven
cream-toned bromide print on white card and black tint mount, 1925
NPG x39242
by Joan Craven
cream-toned bromide print, circa 1930-1935
NPG x39243
by Joan Craven
cream-toned bromide print on cream card and black and white tint mount, circa 1930-1935
NPG x39244
by Joan Craven
cream-toned bromide print on white and black tint and cream card mount, 1931-1933
NPG x39245
by Joan Craven
bromide print, 1931-1933
NPG x39246
by Joan Craven
bromide print, 1931-1933
NPG x39247
by Joan Craven
bromide print, 1931-1933
NPG x39248
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Yahya El-droubie
18 May 2018, 12:30
Joan Craven was born Mabel Craven in Leeds in 1897. Her photography career began in the 1920s when she opened a studio on Bond Street. Her work included photographs of ballerinas including Lydia Sokolova and Alexandra Danilova, and early portrait subjects include the French actress and pianist Yvonne Arnaud and British pianist Harriet Cohen. Some Joan’s pictures of Cohen are held by the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Later on, Joan shared studios with Walter Bird at Kinocrat House on the Cromwell Road, London. By the 1950s Joan was specialising in “figure photography”, and she photographed famous pin-ups of the era including Pamela Green. Several of her nude studies appeared in Photograms of the Year albums, and she was prominently featured in a number of American magazines dedicated to the genre.