LADIES OF THE LENS
The Royal Collection is one of the largest and most important art collections in the world. The collection contains 450,000 photographs, which includes a significant body of work taken by women.
The Royal Collection is one of the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. Comprising almost all aspects of the fine and decorative arts and running to more than a million objects, the Collection is a unique and valuable record of the personal tastes of kings and queens over the past 500 years. A large part of the collection comprises 450,000 photographs, which includes a significant body of work taken by women.
There are at least 450,000 photographs in the Royal Collection, acquired by British monarchs, their consorts and other members of the royal family from 1842 to the present day. The photographs consist of portraits of royalty from Britain, Europe and beyond; portraits of celebrities and statesmen; architectural, topographical and landscape works from around the world, exterior and interior studies of royal residences, 20th century press photographs, and photographs taken by members of the Royal family.
During the late 1960s, the growing interest in the history of photography prompted the gathering together of photographs previously located in the different royal residences to form the nucleus of the photographic collection. The collection is still growing today. Most of the historical photographs are stored in the Round Tower at Windsor Castle. The Round Tower also houses the Royal Archives, where documentary evidence to support many of the photographs in the collection is kept.
The Royal Collection contains a significant body of work by female photographers, dating from the 19th century to the present day. These photographs illustrate key moments in photographic history, including early experiments in the medium, the development of accessible camera technologies, and the advent of colour photography. They also reveal the historical and contemporary importance of women in the creation, study and dissemination of photographs.
Frances Sally Day (c.1816–92) is the earliest woman represented in the Royal Collection of photography and the first woman to photograph the Royal family, following a commission in 1859. Day was among a small number of women who practiced photography during the mid-19th century, a time when the sheer cost of photographic materials meant that photography, and being photographed, was a pursuit of the more affluent sectors of society.
Towards the end of the 19th century however, developments in photographic technologies opened the art up to the larger population. In 1888, Kodak released the Kodak No. 1 camera, followed by the popular Brownie camera in 1900. The camera was intended to be accessible, in terms of both cost and ease of use. Kodak offered to process, print and reload the camera, reflecting their slogan: "You press the button, we do the rest". Advertisements for Kodak cameras largely targeted women, promoting photography as an enjoyable hobby and an essential means of documenting events and family life.
Alexandra, Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra, (1844– 1925) owned a selection of Kodak cameras and was a keen amateur photographer, attending photography classes and regularly photographing family, friends and holidays. Her study and enjoyment of photography served both to promote the practice and to legitimate the place of women photographers. Initially engaged with photography through compiling albums and producing collages consisting of professional photographic prints layered over her own watercolour paintings, Princess Alexandra later adapted her artistic talents to taking photographs, capturing daily events, family, friends, pets and notable occasions with her Kodak cameras. Her photographs were published and shown in various exhibitions, including the 1904 Grand Kodak Exhibition. Her daughter Princess Victoria (1868–1935) was also an avid photographer and compiled numerous albums.
In 1896, Alexandra, Princess of Wales appointed Denmarkborn Mary Steen as her own official photographer. At the age of 28, Steen opened her first photographic studio in Copenhagen, specialising in portraiture and interior scenes. Her ability to capture sharp images in interior environments was particularly significant owing to the lack of electrical light available at the time. In 1888, she was selected as the Danish court photographer before going on to capture a number of striking images of British royalty.
During the same period, a number of female-run photographic studios appeared in the United Kingdom and Europe. The ease with which the population could now take photographs meant that studio photographers had to diversify their practice in order to offer an inventive, innovative product and attract customers.
The portraits emerging from this period comprise a vast range of styles, including Dorothy Wilding's (1893–1976) glamorous, modernist portraits; the delicate, feminine platinum prints of Alice Hughes (1857–1939); and Eva Barrett's (1879–1950) 'photographic sketches'.
In 1914, after working a series of apprenticeships and retouching positions, Dorothy Wilding saved the sum of 60 pounds to found her first photographic studio on George Street, Portman Square in London. She later declared: “Looking back on it now, it is amusing to think that I was only twenty - a minor! […] and I was now proprietress of my own Studio!”. Wilding sought to create attractive portraits, something she felt was entirely based on the artistry of the photographer. Posing the sitter against a plain, white background, Wilding produced portraits that were at once modern and classically sophisticated, promoting the elegance and beauty of the sitter.
Alice Hughes could be considered the most prolific female studio photographer working at the turn of the 20th century. She only photographed women, either individually or accompanied by their children, a preference which was likely inspired by her father, the society painter Edward Hughes (1832–1908), whom she described as “a painter of beautiful women and children”. Hughes first began practicing photography to record her father's paintings, then in 1892 she started taking portraits and subsequently set up a photographic studio beside her father at 52 Gower Street, London.
At peak periods she employed over 60 assistants and would undertake more than 15 sittings a day, with subjects including Princess Victoria (1868–1935), Maud of Wales (1869–1938), Princess Mary (1897–1965), as well as noted society women. Hughes' success aligned with and inspired a vast range of female photographers.
Following an unsuccessful stint as a painter in Hertfordshire, the English born Eva Barrett moved to Rome in 1913 where she decided to establish her profession as a photographer, believing it “was better to be a first-rate photographer than a second-rate artist”. In Rome, Barrett devised a method of producing photographic portraiture reminiscent of artistic sketches. With her small half-plate camera, she photographed the wives and children of foreign ambassadors, leading to her commission to photograph the Italian Royal family. From this point forward, Barrett received numerous commissions from European Royalty across Belgium, Sweden, Greece and Italy.
The photography profession offered women an independent vocation and a means of generating income, in addition to providing a form of artistic expression. Reflecting on her role as a studio photographer, Olive Edis (1876–1955) stated that it was “a life worth living, with no monotony about it, and constantly bringing the worker in touch in a very pleasant way with humanity”. Edis would later witness the destruction caused by humanity in her role as an official war photographer, becoming the first British woman to be employed in such a capacity. In France, Edis captured the destruction of war in poignant images of ravaged landscapes and deserted towns.
Whilst portraiture remained a popular and commercially viable subject during the early 20th century, a small number of female photographers sought more socially engaged subjects. Edis and Christina Broom (1862–1939) created photographs that spoke of the contemporary social condition and documented notable aspects of the First World War.
Although Broom pursued a career in photography out of economic necessity, she is now recognised as a pioneering female photographer and the first female press photographer. Following an injury, her husband Albert (1864–1912) was unable to continue in active employment. In order to make an income, Broom embarked on a unique business venture. Acknowledging the public interest in postcards, she taught herself photography and began selling views of London under the name 'Mrs Albert Broom'. It was a family business, as Broom's husband wrote the captions and their daughter Winifred (1890–1973) developed the images and printed the postcards.
Edis and Broom's pioneering work paved the way for renowned female documentary photographers including Lee Miller (1907–77), Toni Frissell (1907–88) and other notable lenswomen.
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