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Edward James

1 of 244 portraits by Norman Parkinson

© Norman Parkinson Archive/ Iconic Images

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Edward James

by Norman Parkinson
chlorobromide print, late 1930s
7 3/4 in. x 11 1/2 in. (196 mm x 292 mm)
Purchased, 2011
Primary Collection
NPG P1664

Sitterback to top

  • Edward James (1907-1984), Poet, designer and patron of the arts. Sitter in 5 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Norman Parkinson (1913-1990), Photographer. Artist or producer of 244 portraits, Sitter in 14 portraits.

This portraitback to top

This rare early print by leading fashion photographer Norman Parkinson is inscribed by James with a quote from Robert Browning’s poem ‘Rabbi Ben Ezra’: ‘Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be, the last of life for which the first was made.’ Surrounded by smoke it shows the sitter in a dreamlike environment, in a composition that evokes James’s taste for the surreal.

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1937back to top

Current affairs

George VI becomes king. The younger brother of Edward VIII was crowned on the 12th May and the coronation was broadcast to Britain and the Empire on the radio. Edward becomes the Duke of Windsor, although the rank of 'Royal Highness' is not extended to Wallis Simpson.
Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister following Baldwin's retirement.

Art and science

Roland Penrose organises a tour of Picasso's painting Guernica to the UK. The painting, which shows the horrors of the Spanish Civil War, went on display at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in East London

International

Commercial airship travel is brought to an end with the 'Hindenberg Disaster'. The German airship exploded while landing in New Jersey. The radio broadcaster Herbert Morrison's reaction has become legendary: 'Oh, the humanity!'
Japan invades China, killing about 25,000. Japanese Troops committed numerous atrocities against soldiers and civilians in what became known as the 'Rape of Nanking'.

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