Edouard Léon Théodore Mesens







© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Edouard Léon Théodore Mesens
by Ida Kar
quarter-plate film negative, circa 1958
Purchased, 1999
Photographs Collection
NPG x135150
Sitterback to top
- Edouard Léon Théodore Mesens (1903-1971), Artist, writer and art collector. Sitter in 8 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Ida Kar (1908-1974), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 1566 portraits, Sitter in 137 portraits.
Placesback to top
- Place made and portrayed: United Kingdom: England, London (sitter's flat, St John's Wood, London)
Events of 1958back to top
Current affairs
Britain's first motorway is built. The Preston bypass (M6) was the first road to be built to official motorway standards, although the M1 (opened in 1959) was the first road to be given official status. The road was opened by the Prime minister, Harold Macmillan, and heralded a new age of mass, high-speed motoring.Art and science
Michael Bond publishes A Bear Called Paddington, the first Paddington Bear book. This popular character is remembered for being found at Paddington Station by the Brown family, for wearing a floppy hat, duffle coat and Wellington boots, and for his penchant for marmalade sandwiches.The children's television programme, Blue Peter, is broadcast for the first time.
International
Following the USSR's successful launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957, America launches its own space agency, NASA. Under pressure from the Soviets' early lead, NASA began research into human spaceflight. The competition between the two superpowers to explore outer space, send humans beyond the Earth's orbit and land on the moon was known as the 'space race'.Tell us more back to top
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