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Elsa Lanchester

1 of 2 portraits by Doris Zinkeisen

© Estate of Doris Clare Zinkeisen / National Portrait Gallery, London

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Elsa Lanchester

by Doris Zinkeisen
oil on canvas, exhibited 1925
36 in. x 28 in. (916 mm x 712 mm)
Purchased, 1999
Primary Collection
NPG 6488

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Doris Clare Zinkeisen (1897-1991), Painter, stage-set and costume designer, writer and equestrian champion. Artist or producer of 2 portraits, Sitter in 22 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This portrait was completed whilst Lanchester was working for the actor-manager Nigel Playfair at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, where Zinkeisen was the costume designer. It shows the actress in role, possibly as Nell Gwyn, in the early years of her stage career.

Linked publicationsback to top

Events of 1925back to top

Current affairs

On the advice of the Governor of the Bank of England, Montagu Norman, Winston Churchill returns British currency to the Gold Standard. This caused deflation across the empire as the value of the pound returned to the pre-war gold price, leading to unemployment, the miners' strike and the general strike in 1926.

Art and science

John Logie Baird transmits the first television images of a ventriloquist's dummy. The BBC used Logie Baird's invention from 1927 until 1935 when they adopted EMI-Marconi's superior electronic scanning system.
Virginia Woolf publishes her innovative 'stream of consciousness' novel, Mrs Dalloway, which chronicles a day in the life of the protagonist through her interior monologue.

International

Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs represents Britain at the Locarno Treaties. Lorcano secured the post-war territorial settlement and established pledges of non-aggression between various European Nations. The 'spirit of Locarno' helped secure Germany's admission into the League of Nations in 1926. Chamberlain was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his part in the peace agreement.

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