Laura Del Rivo
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Laura Del Rivo
by Ida Kar
2 1/4 inch square film negative, 1961
Purchased, 1999
Photographs Collection
NPG x132975
Artistback to top
- Ida Kar (1908-1974), Photographer. Artist or producer associated with 1567 portraits, Sitter in 137 portraits.
This portraitback to top
A variant of Kar's portrait of Del Rivo in Peter Russell's bookshop, where the author worked at this time, was used on the inside cover of The Furnished Room.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Freestone, Clare (appreciation) Wright, Karen (appreciation), Ida Kar Bohemian Photographer, 2011 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 10 March to 19 June 2011), p. 113 Read entry
The writer Del Rivo grew up in Surrey. Her first novel, The Furnished Room (1961), set in bohemian London of the 1950s, was successfully adapted in 1963 as the film West 11. Del Rivo took over the writer Colin Wilson's Notting Hill flat in 1956, and since the 1960s she has run a stall at Portobello Market. She published some of her early work in Intimate Review, an underground paper edited by the poet John Rety. The paper circulated among the literary crowd of the Soho coffee houses and attracted contributions from many contemporary writers, such as Doris Lessing, Bill Hopkins and Bernard Kops. Kar met and photographed Del Rivo at Peter Russell's bookshop, which occupied the ground floor of 20 D'Arblay Street, just beneath Gallery One, where Del Rivo worked at this time. During this period Del Rivo also published Daffodil on the Pavement (1867) and Animals (1970).
Placesback to top
- Place made and portrayed: United Kingdom: England, London (Peter Russell's bookshop, ground floor of 20 D’Arblay Street, London)
Events of 1961back to top
Current affairs
Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published internationally, inspiring the founding of the human rights organisation, Amnesty International.The philosopher and peace activist Bertrand Russell is imprisoned for inciting civil disobedience during a sit down demonstration at the Ministry of Defence and Hyde Park.
The farthing coin - used in Britain for the last 7 centuries - ceases to be legal tender.
Art and science
Rudolf Nureyev defects from the USSR fearing that the KGB would arrest him for being gay and for fraternising with foreigners. After seeking asylum in Paris he set up home in London at the Royal Ballet and began his famous partnership with Margot Fonteyn.The satirical magazine, Private Eye is first published.
International
The East German government erects the Berlin Wall, ceasing free movement between East and West Berlin. The barrier prevented citizens of Soviet controlled East Germany from crossing the border into West Germany to work, or to defect.Yuri Gagarin, the soviet cosmonaut, becomes the first man in space orbiting the earth on the 12th April.
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.