Norman Parkinson
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Norman Parkinson
Parkinson, Norman (1913-90), English photographer and eccentric whose career saw fashion photography transform itself from decorative depiction of aristocratic ladies to a more commercial and democratic medium. After apprenticeship to the court photographers Speaight & Sons of Bond Street, he set up his own studio at the age of 21. Like Cecil Beaton, Parkinson was noted for taking his sitters out of the studio and encouraging them to move naturally, resulting in elegant portraits captured in contrastingly grimy or working-class environments. Sittings with contemporary figures including the Sitwells, Vaughan Williams, and Kathleen Ferrier for publications such as The Bystander, Life, and Look led to a close relationship with Condé Nast from the 1940s to the late 1970s. Parkinson pioneered the outdoor use of colour photography with then difficult to source early 35 mm stock, which he used for landmark fashion imagery for American Vogue. Many of his most celebrated images, such as a satin-clad model reclining against a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (1950), featured his wife Wenda Rogerson.
In 1963, Parkinson moved from Twickenham to Tobago, where he set up a pig farm and marketed his famous ‘Porkinson's Bangers’ sausages. One of the first fashion photographers to enjoy personal celebrity, he was latterly known as the unofficial royal portraitist.
— Penny Martin
Bibliography
- Pepper, T., Photographs by Norman Parkinson: Fifty Years of Portraits and Fashion (1981)
Quotes By:
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Norman Parkinson
Quotes:
"I could never bear to be buried with people to whom I had not been introduced."
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Norman Parkinson
Norman Parkinson, CBE (21 April 1913 – 15 February 1990) was a celebrated English portrait and fashion photographer.
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Contents
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Biography
Parkinson (birth name Ronald William Parkinson Smith) was born in London, and educated at Westminster School. He began his career in 1931 as an apprentice to the court photographers Speaight and Sons Ltd. In 1934 he opened his own studio together with Norman Kibblewhite. From 1935 to 1940 he worked for Harper's Bazaar and The Bystander magazines. During the Second World War he served as a reconnaissance photographer over France for the Royal Air Force. In 1947 he married the actress and model Wenda Rogerson. From 1945 to 1960 he was employed as a portrait and fashion photographer for Vogue. From 1960 to 1964 he was an Associate Contributing Editor of Queen magazine. In 1963 he moved to Tobago, although frequently returned to London, and from 1964 until his death he worked as a freelance photographer.
Photography
Parkinson always maintained he was a craftsman and not an artist. From his early days as a photographer up to his death he remained one of the foremost British portrait and fashion photographers. His work, following the lead of Martin Munkacsi at Harper's Bazaar, revolutionised the world of British fashion photography in the '40s by bringing his models from the rigid studio environment into a far more dynamic outdoor setting. Humour played a central role in many of his photographs which often included himself. As well as magazine work he also created celebrated calendars featuring glamorous young women.
Discoveries
- He spotted Nena von Schlebrügge, the mother of Uma Thurman at age 16 when she left her senior school in Stockholm, and brought her to London to model for Vogue Magazine.
- His photo of Jerry Hall sparked Bryan Ferry's interest to invite her over to star as the cover model for Roxy Music's fifth studio album, Siren.
- He also discovered model Celia Hammond for Queen Magazine in 1959.
Books
- Sisters under the skin (1978, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-72746-1)
- Norman Parkinson: Fifty Years Of Style And Fashion (1984), The Vendome Press, ISBN 0-86565-031-4)
- Would you let your daughter? (1987), Weidenfeld and Nicolson, ISBN 0-297-78683-0)
- Norman Parkinson (1987, Hamilton Galleries, ASIN: B0007BRZFA)
- Norman Parkinson: Portraits in Fashion (2004, Trafalgar Square Publishing, ISBN 1-57076-277-5)
- Norman Parkinson: A Very British Glamour by Louise Baring, (2009, Rizzoli) ISBN 978-0-8478-3342-9 – a tie-in with the exhibition of the same name at Somerset House, Oct 9, 2009 — Jan 31, 2010
References
External links
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Oxford Companion to the Photograph
The Oxford Companion to the Photograph. Copyright © 2005 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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calendar photography
(photography)
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fashion photography
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England and Wales
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