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Edith Hart-Davis (Wallace), later Lady Brougham and Vaux ('Mrs Richard Hart-Davis as Ariel')

2 of 3 portraits of Edith Hart-Davis (Wallace), later Lady Brougham and Vaux

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Edith Hart-Davis (Wallace), later Lady Brougham and Vaux ('Mrs Richard Hart-Davis as Ariel')

by Yevonde
Vivex colour print, 1935
14 3/8 in. x 11 1/2 in. (366 mm x 293 mm)
Given by Yevonde, 1971
Photographs Collection
NPG x11660

On display at The Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

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Yevonde originally intended this photograph of Edith Hart-Davis to represent Andromeda by including her chained wrists prominently in the composition. However when she saw the intensity of the image once it was printed up she decided it might more appropriately represent the weightlessness and velocity of a flying spirit, namely Ariel. This spirit of the Air who appears in Shakespeare's The Tempest was imprisoned in a pine tree by the witch Sycorax. The spirit remained there until the release by the superior power of Prospero, twelve years later.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Clare Freestone, Yevonde: Life and Colour, 2023 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 22 June to 15 October 2023), p. 135
  • Gibson, Robert; Roberts, Pam, Madame Yevonde: Colour, Fantasy & Myth, 1990 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 20 July - 1 October 1990), p. 65

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Current affairs

Stanley Baldwin starts his third term as Prime Minister after Ramsay Macdonald resigns due to ill health. Coincidentally, Baldwin's first term in office also came about when the Prime Minister of the time, Bonar Law, stepped down due to illness in 1923.

Art and science

Robert Watson-Watt demonstrates Radar, showing how an aircraft can be tracked by detecting radio waves reflected off it. During the war, Watson-Watt established a network of machines and operators that helped detect the approach of enemy aircraft in the Battle of Britain.
Penguin publishes its first paperback books, making reading more portable and affordable to a wider audience.

International

Italy invades Abyssinia. The invasion of the country now known as Ethiopia was part of Mussolini's plan to create an Italian Empire. It was also an attempt to avenge Abyssinia's victory over the Italian army at Adowa in 1896.
Germany introduces conscription, breaking the disarmament clause of the Treaty of Versailles.

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