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Eugène Ionesco

1 of 7 portraits of Eugène Ionesco

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Eugène Ionesco

by Ida Kar
vintage bromide print, 1960
9 3/4 in. x 9 3/4 in. (247 mm x 248 mm)
Purchased, 1999
Photographs Collection
NPG x127776

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Ida Kar (1908-1974), Photographer. Artist associated with 1564 portraits, Sitter in 137 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Romanian-born Ionesco is seen at his writing desk; on the right hangs a poster for his play, Victims of Duty (1953), and on the left are copies of The Possessed by Dostoevsky. At the time of the opening of Kar's Whitechapel exhibition, Ionesco's Rhinocéros (1959) was being staged at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by Orson Welles.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Freestone, Clare (appreciation) Wright, Karen (appreciation), Ida Kar Bohemian Photographer, 2011 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 10 March to 19 June 2011), p. 108 Read entry

    Romanian-born lonesco grew up in France, returning to Bucharest in 1925. After obtaining a degree in French at the University of Bucharest, he studied for a doctorate in Paris, where he eventually settled. lonesco's first play La cantatrice chauve (The Bald Soprano, 1949) revolutionised dramatic techniques and helped launch the Theatre of the Absurd. His avant-garde style dramatised the futility of social conventions and attacked totalitarianism and conformity. Along with Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet, who lived and worked in Paris during the same period, he remains one of the most important dramatists of the twentieth century. lonesco was elected to the Académie Française in 1970. In Kar's portrait he appears at his writing desk. On the right hangs a poster for his play Victimes du devoir (Victims of Duty, 1953), and on his desk are copies of The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoevsky, in which lonesco played the role of Stepan Trofimovich. At the time of the opening of Kar's Whitechapel exhibition, lonesco's Rhinocéros (1959) was presented at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by Orson Welles.

Portrait setback to top

Events of 1960back to top

Current affairs

Prince Andrew is born, the third child of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip.
The Contraceptive Pill is introduced in England, dramatically changing the nation's approach to sex and relationships, and significantly contributing to the 1960s culture of liberation.

Art and science

Penguin books defend D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover against charges of obscenity by demonstrating that the novel was of literary merit. The 'not guilty' verdict was seen as a victory for free speech and marked the beginning if a new era of liberalism.
The satirical revue Beyond the Fringe launches the careers of Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore and Jonathan Miller.

International

Harold Macmillan delivers his 'wind of change' speech to the South African Parliament in Cape Town, announcing Britain's decision to grant independence to many of her colonies. The speech recognised the emergence of African nationalism, and criticised the policy of Apartheid in South Africa.

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