Henry James

© 2022 E.O. Hoppé Estate Collection / Curatorial Inc.

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Henry James

by E.O. Hoppé
vintage bromide print, 1913
10 5/8 in. x 8 1/4 in. (271 mm x 211 mm) overall
Given by Terence Pepper, 2010
Photographs Collection
NPG x132910

Sitterback to top

  • Henry James (1843-1916), Novelist. Sitter in 16 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Emil Otto ('E.O.') Hoppé (1878-1972), Photographer and writer. Artist or producer associated with 196 portraits, Sitter in 2 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Although this portrait dates from 1911, it didn't become widely known until it was published by the Bookman and the Graphic in 1913, to celebrate Henry James's seventieth birthday.
In his autobiography Hundred Thousand Exposures (1945), Hoppé explained of this portrait: 'I photographed him in my London studio and at Lamb House in Rye where he moved from Chelsea. His appearance was suggestive of a portly dignity and precise manner in style and speech. His profile was modelled on pure classical lines and one of my head and shoulders portraits of him, in which he resembled a Roman Emperor, has been reproduced over and over again in many publications.'

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Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1913back to top

Current affairs

The Suffragette, Emily Davison dies after stepping out in front of the King's horse as a protest at the Epsom Derby. In the same year the Liberal government passed the Cat and Mouse Act allowing them to release and re-arrest Suffragettes who went on hunger strike while in prison. Davison, herself, had been on hunger strike and was force-fed while detained at Holloway Prison.

Art and science

Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring comes to London following its premier at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. Audiences were shocked by Stravinsky's rhythmic and dissonant musical score and by the violent jerky dancing of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which were intended to represent pagan ritual.

International

Henry Ford introduces the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company, rapidly increasing the rate at which the famous Model T could be manufactured, leading to massive growth in the motorcar industry and demonstrating to other industries the efficiency of mass production.

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