259:. The introduction of colour photography was not universally popular; indeed photographers and the public alike were so used to black-and-white pictures that early reactions to the new process tended toward the hostile. Yevonde, however, was hugely enthusiastic about it and spent countless hours in her studio experimenting with how to get the best results. Her dedication paid huge dividends. In 1932 she put on an exhibition of portrait work at the Albany Gallery, half monochrome and half colour, to enthusiastic reviews.
207:. In 1914, with the technical grounding she received from working with Charles, and a gift of £250 from her father, at the age of 21 Yevonde set up her own studio at 92 Victoria Street, London, and began to make a name for herself by inviting well-known figures to sit for free. Before long her pictures were appearing in society magazines such as the
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Yevonde's most famous work was inspired by a theme party held on 5 March 1935, where guests dressed as Roman and Greek gods and goddesses. Yevonde subsequently took studio portraits of many of the participants (and others), in appropriate costume and surrounded by appropriate objects. This series of
316:, had died in April. Yevonde returned to working in black and white, and produced many notable portraits. She continued working up until her death, just two weeks short of her 83rd birthday, but is chiefly remembered for her work of the 1930s, which did much to make colour photography respectable.
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prints showed
Yevonde at her most creative, using colour, costume and props to build an otherworldly air around her subjects. She went on to produce further series based on the signs of the zodiac and the months of the year. Partly influenced by surrealist artists, particularly
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By 1921, Madame
Yevonde had become a well-known and respected portrait photographer, and moved to larger premises at 100 Victoria Street. Here she began taking advertising commissions and also photographed many of the leading personalities of the day, including
219:. Her style quickly moved away from the stiff "pouter pigeon" look of Lallie Charles, toward a still formal, but more creative, style. Her subjects were often pictured looking away from the camera, and she began using props to creative effect.
172:. She was the eldest of two daughters, and with Verena, her younger sister, the family moved to Bromley in 1899. She was initially educated by a governess and a local day school, then at the liberal and progressive Lingholt Boarding School in
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This highly creative period of
Yevonde's career would only last a few years. At the end of 1939, Colour Photographs Ltd closed, and the Vivex process was no more. It was the second major blow to Yevonde that year—her husband, the playwright
192:, Kent, and became active in suffragette activities, but realised that she was not cut out to be a leader in the field of women's rights. Cumbers eventually ceased her active involvement, but not before answering an advert she had seen in
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In 1933, Madame
Yevonde moved once again, this time to 28 Berkeley Square. She began using colour in her advertising work as well as her portraits, and took on other commissions too. In 1936, she was commissioned by
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and subsequently at the Guilde
Internationale in Paris, as well as boarding schools in Belgium and France. From an early age Yevonde Cumbers displayed an independent attitude. Her heroine was women's liberationist
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In an address to the Royal
Photographic Society in 1932, Yevonde argued that women were more strongly suited to embrace colour photography, because colour was more important to women's lives.
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361:, a third National Portrait Gallery exhibition, opened in London on 22 June 2023, with an accompanying catalogue edited by Clare Freestone.
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323:, Yevonde wrote, 'I took up photography with the definite purpose of making myself independent. I wanted to earn money of my own'.
877:—official site of the owner of the Yevonde collection. Includes biography, galleries of photographs, and exhibition history.
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briefly in 1921 and then again in 1933, and became a Fellow in 1940. The RPS Collection holds examples of her work.
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in 1953 featured 64 color photographs produced from original glass plate negatives and Vivex prints. It showed her
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printed twelve plates, and pictures were exhibited in London and New York City. One of the portraits was of artist
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in 2005 at the
National Portrait Gallery, London displayed 15 of her colour photographs from the 1930s.
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148:; 5 January 1893 – 22 December 1975) was an English photographer, who pioneered the use of colour in
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Instead, Cumbers sought, and was given, a three-year apprenticeship with the portrait photographer
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Neale, Shirley (19 January 2015). "Mrs
Beatrice Cundy, née Adelin Beatrice Connell, 1875–1949".
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University
College London, The Equiano Centre ("Blog for Drawing over the Colour Line project")
643:"The Zinkeisen sisters – Great Scotswomen (from The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women)"
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magazine to photograph the last stages in the fitting out of the new Cunard liner, the
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In the early 1930s, Yevonde began experimenting with colour photography, using the new
292:. Another major coup was being invited to take portraits of leading peers to mark the
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761:. London: Royal Photographic Society, Bath and National Portrait Gallery, London.
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276:. This was very different from Yevonde's usual work, but the shoot was a success.
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was a retrospective of her work at the Royal
Photographic Society, Bath and the
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816:"'Lost' photos by Paul McCartney to go on show at National Portrait Gallery"
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Royal Photographic Society membership records. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
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series of 1935, in which society women posed in, surreal, mythical guises.
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in 1990. An exhibition catalogue was also published by the Gallery.
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Freestone, Clare; Roberts, Pamela Glasson; Brown, Susanna (2023).
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for a photographer's apprentice. She attended an interview with
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Upon leaving school, she returned to the family home in
841:"Yevonde: Life and Colour - National Portrait Gallery"
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Yevonde Philone Cumbers was born on 5 January 1893 in
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392:"Visual Arts - Artists - Madame Yevonde (1883 -1975)"
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Goddesses and Others: Photographs by Madame Yevonde
790:"Goddesses and Others - National Portrait Gallery"
561:"Creating a Riot of Color, in a Studio of Her Own"
255:colour process from Colour Photography Limited of
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333:Be Original or Die Photographs by Madame Yevonde
294:coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth
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284:who was commissioned together with her sister
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649:. Edinburgh University Press. Archived from
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505:(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
343:Madame Yevonde: Colour, Fantasy & Myth
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758:Madame Yevonde: Colour, Fantasy, and Myth
911:20th-century British women photographers
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502:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
394:. British Council. 1998. Archived from
132: 1920; died 1939)
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704:O'Callaghan, Declan (1 October 2019).
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814:Sherwood, Harriet (25 January 2023).
641:Dwyer, Britta C. (13 November 2006).
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442:. National Portrait Gallery, London.
755:Gibson, Robin; Roberts, Pam (1990).
622:. National Portrait Gallery (London)
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160:in a career lasting over 60 years.
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906:20th-century English women artists
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559:LaBarge, Emily (18 August 2023).
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347:National Portrait Gallery, London
152:. She used the professional name
871:in the National Portrait Gallery
685:. London: John Gifford Limited.
593:Scholes, Lucy (19 August 2023).
499:"Middleton , Yevonde Philone ".
288:to paint several murals for the
27:English photographer (1893–1975)
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468:"Yevonde Middleton (1893-1975)"
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567:. Vol. 172. p. C6.
466:B, Lizzie (25 January 2023).
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599:The New York Review of Books
511:UK public library membership
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916:English women photographers
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869:Madame Yevonde photographs
418:"Artists - Madame Yevonde"
298:Royal Photographic Society
921:Photographers from London
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142:Yevonde Philone Middleton
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735:Cornerhouse Publications
681:Yevonde, Madame (1940).
472:Women Who Meant Business
440:Yevonde, Life and Colour
359:Yevonde: Life and Colour
620:"Doris Clare Zinkeisen"
58:Yevonde Philone Cumbers
647:Heritage & Culture
526:History of Photography
181:, and she joined the
372:Robin Warwick Gibson
319:In her 1940 memoir,
150:portrait photography
398:on 22 February 2014
179:Mary Wollstonecraft
565:The New York Times
185:movement in 1910.
595:"A Riot of Color"
509:(Subscription or
296:. She joined the
237:Louis Mountbatten
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36:Yevonde Middleton
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891:1893 births
327:Exhibitions
241:Noël Coward
183:Suffragette
107:Photography
96:Nationality
885:Categories
850:28 January
825:25 January
799:10 January
774:10 January
513:required.)
477:28 January
402:16 October
378:References
290:Queen Mary
273:Queen Mary
225:A.A. Milne
216:The Sketch
164:Early life
156:or simply
64:1893-01-05
715:25 August
683:In Camera
604:25 August
578:25 August
573:0362-4331
546:191565007
532:: 61–67.
337:Goddesses
321:In Camera
257:Willesden
170:Streatham
72:Streatham
691:86024496
657:17 April
626:20 April
366:See also
174:Hindhead
740:9 March
306:Man Ray
268:Fortune
190:Bromley
158:Yevonde
146:Cumbers
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99:British
18:Yevonde
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278:People
247:Career
210:Tatler
112:Spouse
542:S2CID
253:Vivex
144:(née
128:(
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852:2023
827:2023
801:2022
776:2022
763:ISBN
742:2021
717:2023
687:OCLC
659:2010
628:2010
606:2023
580:2023
569:ISSN
479:2023
444:ISBN
404:2012
286:Anna
239:and
213:and
80:Died
54:Born
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