1 OF 8

Anton Walbrook; Diana Wynyard; Rex Harrison

1 of 8 portraits of Anton Walbrook

Identify sitters

Angus McBean Photograph. © Harvard Theatre Collection, Harvard University.

by Angus McBean
bromide print, 1939
11 3/8 in. x 9 1/2 in. (290 mm x 241 mm)
Purchased, 2001
Primary Collection
NPG P929

Sittersback to top

Sir Reginald Carey ('Rex') Harrison (1908-1990), Actor. Sitter in 10 portraits. Identify
Anton Walbrook (Adolf Wohlbruck) (1900-1967), Actor. Sitter in 8 portraits. Identify
Diana Wynyard (1906-1964), Actress. Sitter in 35 portraits. Identify

Artistback to top

Angus McBean (1904-1990), Photographer. Artist associated with 276 portraits, Sitter in 79 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

Pepper, Terence, Angus McBean Portraits, 2006 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 5 July to 22 October 2006), p. 53 Read entry
This novel composition was achieved by arranging the three supine actors on the floor, set against architectural blueprints and a customized T-square to which McBean added his upside-down signature. Noël Coward's play satirizing contemporary life was first produced in America in 1933 with the author starring alongside Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. The first British production opened for a week at the Theatre Royal, Brighton, before moving to the Haymarket, London, in January 1938 and then transferring to the Savoy. This portrait was used for the poster.

Portrait setback to top

Surrealist studies: vintage photographs by Angus McBean, 1930s-40s

Subject/Themeback to top

Group portraits

Events of 1939back to top

Current affairs

Britain goes to war. The German invasion of Poland demonstrated that the policy of appeasement had failed. After refusing to meet Britain's ultimatum to withdraw troops, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second World War had begun.

Art and science

The Sutton Hoo burial ship is discovered. Apparently following a dream, Mrs Pretty invited the archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate a series of burial mounds on her estate on the banks of the river Deben in Suffolk. The excavation revealed an Anglo-Saxon burial, uncovering the most significant horde of early medieval artefacts found in Britain (now housed at the British Museum).

International

The Second World War begins. Germany's invasion of Poland prompted Britain and France to declare war forming the core of the Allied powers. As part of the Soviet-Nazi Pact, the Soviet Union joined the war on the German side, helping, with Italy, to form the Axis Powers. Poland was soon overpowered and the Baltic Republics and Finland were invaded by the Soviet Union.

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