Vita Sackville-West

by Gisèle Freund
colour dye transfer print, 1939
12 in. x 8 1/4 in. (304 mm x 208 mm)
Purchased, 1990
Primary Collection
NPG P437

Sitterback to top

Victoria Mary ('Vita') Sackville-West (1892-1962), Writer and gardener; wife of Sir Harold Nicolson. Sitter associated with 28 portraits.

Artistback to top

Gisèle Freund (1912-2000), Photographers. Artist of 6 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This colour photograph was taken at Sissinghurst Castle where Freund returned for another portrait session in 1946.

Linked publicationsback to top

Birkett, Dea; Morris, Jan (foreword), Off the Beaten Track: Three Centuries of Women Travellers, 2004 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 7 July to 31 October 2004), p. 93
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 543
Spalding, Frances, Virginia Woolf: Art, Life and Vision, 2014 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 10 July 2014 - 26 October 2014), p. 124

Placesback to top

Place made: United Kingdom: England, Kent (sitter's home, Sissinghurst Castle, Cranbrook, Kent)

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Off the Beaten Track (7 July 2004 - 31 October 2004)

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1939back to top

Current affairs

Britain goes to war. The German invasion of Poland demonstrated that the policy of appeasement had failed. After refusing to meet Britain's ultimatum to withdraw troops, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second World War had begun.

Art and science

The Sutton Hoo burial ship is discovered. Apparently following a dream, Mrs Pretty invited the archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate a series of burial mounds on her estate on the banks of the river Deben in Suffolk. The excavation revealed an Anglo-Saxon burial, uncovering the most significant horde of early medieval artefacts found in Britain (now housed at the British Museum).

International

The Second World War begins. Germany's invasion of Poland prompted Britain and France to declare war forming the core of the Allied powers. As part of the Soviet-Nazi Pact, the Soviet Union joined the war on the German side, helping, with Italy, to form the Axis Powers. Poland was soon overpowered and the Baltic Republics and Finland were invaded by the Soviet Union.

Tell us more back to top

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