Yevonde

The National Portrait Gallery reopened this summer after a long period of closure. Among their opening exhibitions is Yevonde: Life and Colour. Yevonde Middleton (1893-1975) was a pioneering photographer, bringing colour to portrait photography in the 1930s and producing allegorical and surreal images. Her sitters including royalty, the rich, famous and my parents!

Yevonde was an ardent feminist and suffragist and many of her images betray her thoughts on the lot of women in the interwar years. I love that Nefertiti, the most beautiful woman who ever lived, is still obliged to do the ironing. The naked girl at a sewing machine combines eroticism and woman’s decorative qualities with the domestic and working dimensions of life. A bird sings in the background, perched at the open door of her cage. And woman’s best friend is her dog!

Yevonde was a member of the Women’s Provisional Club and a good friend of my great aunt Dora. Dora commissioned portraits of my parents as a wedding present to them in 1950. Yevonde tinted the original black and white photos, giving Mum red lipstick and a red sweater – Yevonde’s favourite colour. She must have framed the prints too, giving a red tint to the inner section.

For Dad she used softer tones. I think he looks rather handsome!

The Yevonde exhibition is wonderful, highly recommended, but it ends soon, 15 October 2023, so hurry or you will miss it!