'Surveillance Photograph of Militant Suffragettes'
2 of 5 portraits of Kitty Marion (Katherina Maria Schafer)
'Surveillance Photograph of Militant Suffragettes'
by Criminal Record Office
bromide print mounted onto identification sheet, 1914
6 7/8 in. x 8 1/4 in. (174 mm x 210 mm) overall
Acquired from Criminal Record Office, 1914
Photographs Collection
NPG x132847
Artistback to top
- Criminal Record Office, Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 20 portraits.
Sittersback to top
- Jennie Baines (1866-1951), Suffragette and social reformer. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Lillian Forrester (née Williamson) (1879-1973), Militant suffragette. Sitter in 3 portraits. Identify
- Clara Elizabeth Giveen (born 1887), Suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Miss Johansen (born 1881?), Militant suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Lilian Lenton (1891-1972), Militant suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Kitty Marion (Katherina Maria Schafer) (1871-1944), Militant suffragette; Actress. Sitter in 5 portraits. Identify
- Miriam Pratt (born 1890?), Suffragette. Sitter in 2 portraits. Identify
- Mary Raleigh Richardson (1889-1961), Suffragette and political activist. Sitter in 5 portraits. Identify
This portraitback to top
Surveillance photographs of militant Suffragettes were issued to public galleries including the National Portrait Gallery in 1914. Most of the images in the composite group photograph were taken undercover while the women were in the exercise yards of Manchester or Holloway prisons. While the surveillance photograph lacks any of the understanding between artist and sitter necessary in a portrait, the images are themselves striking and sometimes unintentionally heroic. Of those included, Gertrude Ansell (1861–1932) (below, bottom row, second left), a professional typist, attacked Hubert Herkomer’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington at the Royal Academy and was forcibly fed 236 times. The music-hall actress Kitty Marion is the only subject represented with a professional portrait photograph (above, top row, third right). Imprisoned seven times, her autobiography is a valuable account by a ‘foot soldier’ of the suffrage movement.
Related worksback to top
- NPG x45566: Miriam Pratt (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45565: Jennie Baines (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45564: Clara Elizabeth Giveen (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45563: Miss Johansen (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45562: Lillian Forrester (née Williamson) (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45560: Lilian Lenton (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45559: Mary Raleigh Richardson (appears within the portrait)
- NPG x45561: Kitty Marion (Katherina Maria Schafer) (appears within the portrait)
Linked publicationsback to top
- 100 Photographs, 2018, p. 52 Read entry
These two groups of surveillance photographs of militant Suffragettes were issued to public galleries, including the National Portrait Gallery, in 1914. Most of the photographs show women serving sentences in Holloway and Manchester prisons, and were taken undercover in prison exercise yards. Of those featured, Gertrude Ansell (1861-1932; bottom row, second from the left), a professional typist, attacked Hubert Herkomer’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington at the Royal Academy and was forcibly fed 236 times. The actress Kitty Marion (1871-1944; top row, third from the left) is the only subject represented with a professional portrait photograph. Imprisoned seven times, she wrote an autobiography that is a valuable account by a ‘foot soldier’ of the suffrage movement.
- Schama, Simon, The Face of Britain: The Nation Through its Portraits, 2015-09-15, p. 517
Placesback to top
- Place made: United Kingdom: England, London (Holloway Prison, London)
- Place made: United Kingdom: England, Greater Manchester (Manchester Prison)
Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top
- Votes for Women (27 January 2018 - 3 June 2018)
- Simon Schama's Face of Britain: People (14 September 2015 - 4 January 2016)
- Suffragettes: Deeds not Words (2 July 2014 - 10 May 2015)
- The Beautiful and the Damned (6 June 2001 - 7 October 2001)
Portrait setback to top
Events of 1914back to top
Current affairs
Following Germany's declaration of war on France and invasion of Belgium, Herbert Henry Asquith, the British Prime Minister, declares war on the German Empire on August 4, 1914. The popular belief that the conflict would be 'over by Christmas' was soon found to be a bitter underestimate of the scale of the war.Art and science
The fist issue of the periodical Blast is published by Wyndham Lewis, announcing the advent of Vorticism. This movement, named by Ezra Pound and taking in art and poetry, combined the vitality and dynamism of Italian Futurism with the geometric structure of Cubism. Vorticism was a direct challenge to the perceived quaint and domestic style of the Bloomsbury group and Roger Fry's Omega Workshop.International
On June 28th 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated in Sarajevo leading to Austria's declaration of war against Serbia and triggering the First World War. Germany declared war on Serbia's ally, Russia, and then marched on France via Belgium. Soon all of Europe and most of the world was embroiled in total war.Comments back to top
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