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Year Three: Camden

1 July – 11 October 2015 npg.org.uk/creativeconnections Creative Connections is generously supported by the Palley family. Year Three: Camden What identity means to me...

Creative Connections is a four-year project connecting young people in with contemporary artists to create new responses to the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection. The spotlights for this third year of the project have been the and the portraits and biographies of selected individuals who have local connections. The project partner has been School and the artist, photographer Kate Peters. The young people explored the history of photography and the language of portraiture, while developing their creative and technical skills. Kate engaged them with interesting and curious facts about the people from Camden, symbolised through the use of objects. Together they created a new series of portraits. Camden is a place of great contrasts ranging from the leafy, green spaces of and to the busy areas of and . The area is famous for its alternative cultural and music scenes and has become a popular destination for tourists.

There are diverse countries in the world but in Camden you get the whole world. Participant,

Creative Connections is generously supported by the Palley family.

Creative Connections participants: GCSE Art students from Haverstock School, Camden. The project story, participants artwork and thoughts.

Camden Connections #1 (From Songs to Surrealism)

Lee Miller 1907–77 Bertrand Russell, Photojournalist 3rd Earl Russell Did you know? Miller reinvented herself as a 1872–1970 cook in the 1950s and often held dinner parties Philosopher with surreal themes; at one party all the food was white. Did you know? Russell was fascinated by the game of chess and an avid player. Camden Connection: Miller lived in Hampstead with her husband Roland Penrose, a surrealist Camden Connection: Russell lived in . There painter. is a statue in nearby Red Lion Square by which to Image not available for remember him. Biography: American-born Miller began her career copyright reasons as a model working for magazines including Biography: Russell was one of the foremost philosophers of the twentieth century. A pacifist Vogue and Vanity Fair. She expanded her own photographic work after being the pupil and during the First World War he was imprisoned for muse of Man Ray, the surrealist photographer. his views. He won the Nobel Prize for literature During the Second World War Miller worked as in 1950 in recognition of his significant work a correspondent and her work often captured advocating humanitarian ideals and freedom of the effects of bombing. She photographed thought. In 1958 he became the first President of the liberation of Paris and documented the the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). concentration camps Buchenwald and Dachau.

By Man Ray, 1929 By Ida Kar, 1953 Photogravure Silver gelatin print x137575 x131164 Alan Bennett b.1934 Glenda Jackson b.1936 Playwright, actor Politician Did you know? Bennett’s The Lady in the Did you know? Before Jackson was a Labour MP Van (1989, adapted for screen in 2015), was she was an award winning actress; to play the role influenced by a homeless woman who lived, in of Queen she had her head shaved. her van, in his garden for fifteen years. Camden Connection: Jackson studied at the Royal Camden Connection: Bennett lived in Camden Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), Bloomsbury and Town. was the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn. Biography: The son of a Leeds butcher, Bennett Biography: Jackson was a member of the Royal studied History at Oxford University. After being Shakespeare Company from 1963. She won one of the writers and performers in the comedy Academy Awards for the filmsWomen in Love review Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s, he (1969) and A Touch of Class (1973). She progressed to notable successes on stage, screen became a Labour politician and was elected as and radio. Among the highlights are The History an MP in 1992. Boys (2004, adapted for screen in 2006) and Talking Heads (1988) as well as several volumes of autobiography.

Glenda Jackson as Queen Elizabeth I in Mary, Queen of Scots By Derry Moore, 12th Earl By Terry O’Neill, 1971 of Drogheda, 1992 Silver gelatin print Colour coupler print Given by Terry O’Neil, 1985 P525 x34557 Paul Robeson 1898–1976 b.1969 Singer Politician Did you know? The United States Government Did you know? Miliband claims to be able to confiscated Robeson’s passport in 1950. In complete a Rubik’s cube puzzle in 90 seconds. 1957 the British left-wing politician Tony Benn organised a protest meeting about the travel Camden Connection: Miliband went to ban. Robeson – unable to attend – sang down Haverstock School, ; the school the phone to over 1,000 supporters. attended by this year’s Creative Connections participants. He now lives in . Camden Connection: Robeson lived in Image not available for Biography: Miliband is of Jewish heritage and Hampstead and studied Swahili and Phonetics at copyright reasons the School for Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), lost many relatives in the Holocaust. He was the , Bloomsbury. youngest leader of the Labour Party and was in opposition for five years. Following the party’s Biography: Robeson was born in America to the defeat in the 2015 general elections Miliband son of an escaped slave. He won an American resigned the leadership but remains an MP. Football scholarship and used it to attend law school. Between 1925 and 1942, Robeson appeared in eleven films, including Show Boat (1936) and the Welsh mining drama The Proud Valley (1940).

By Kate Peters (this year’s Creative By Madame Yevonde, c.1933 Connections artist) Silver gelatin print Colour coupler print, September 2012 x29838 x138045 Camden Connection #2 (From Whiz-bang to Wakefield)

Charles Dickens 1812–70 b.1966 Writer Actor Did you know? Dickens had a pet raven called Did you know? Bonham Carter often wears Grip. pantaloons and other Victorian clothing and had her own fashion label, named Pantaloonies. Camden Connection: Dickens lived at 48 , Holborn; his house is now the Charles Camden Connection: Bonham Carter went to Dickens Museum. School. Biography: Dickens is widely regarded as the Biography: Bonham Carter was born in London. greatest author of the Victorian age. He is Despite never formally studying drama she has Image not available for celebrated for creating memorable characters and featured in many successful films includingFight copyright reasons raising awareness of social injustice. Dickens was Club (1999), the series (2001–2011), forced to leave school at the age of twelve to work Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Cinderella (2015). in a factory. His writing made him a celebrity and She won a BAFTA for her performance in The many of his books including Oliver Twist (1837) King’s Speech (2010). and A Christmas Carol (1843) have never been out of print.

Charles Dickens, his characters and the empty chair By an unknown artist, 1872 Albumen print By David Seidner, 1998 Given by Terence Pepper, 2011 Colour coupler print x135439 P876 Dame Barbara Hepworth Walter Sickert 1860–1942 1903–1975 Artist Sculptor Did you know? Sickert lived in Mornington Did you know? In the late 1930s Hepworth’s Crescent and was a founding member of the studio in Camden was the centre of the abstract Camden Town Group of artists. This influential art movement in Britain. group, which held just three exhibitions between 1911 and 1912, focused on capturing the reality Camden Connection: Hepworth lived in of urban life. Hampstead. Her work Monolith-Empyrean (1953); is in the grounds of , Hampstead. Camden Connection: Sickert was a pupil of James McNeill Whistler, through whom he met and Biography: Born in Yorkshire, Hepworth was one of became friends with the artist Edgar Degas. These Britain’s most important twentieth-century artists. artists were important influences on his work. She produced abstract work exploring the human figure, landscape and material forms. In her work Biography: Born in Munich, Sickert attended the she used stone, metal, wood and string. Slade School of Art from 1881 to 1882. His subject matter, ordinary people, caused outrage. His later paintings were based on photographs and newspaper cuttings.

Walter Sickert with his wife Therese Lessore By Jorge Lewinski, 1968 By George Woodbine, for the Daily Herald, 5 March 1934 Bromide print Modern bromide print from the original negative x13720 x74799 1834–96 Matthew Williamson b.1972 Designer Designer Did you know? Morris designed over fifty Did you know? Williamson started his career as a wallpapers, each of which incorporate plant forms. designer for the fashion chain Monsoon. Camden Connection: Morris lived in Red Lion Camden Connection: Williamson lived in Square with Edward Burne-Jones, a member of the Hampstead. Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (1856–59). Biography: Williamson was born in Manchester Biography: Morris is best known today for and studied Fashion Design at Central Saint his textile and wallpaper designs, but he also Martins. His work is characterised by bright published epic poetry and assisted with the colours and print embellishments. Williamson’s founding of the Society for the Protection of debut collection ‘Electric Angels’ in 1997 was Ancient Buildings (1877) and the Socialist League modelled by Kate Moss, Helena Christiansen and (1884). Morris’s designs included furniture, stained Jade Jagger. He is inspired by travel and different glass, book illustration and tapestry. As an active cultures and believes colour can enhance the socialist, Morris believed in ‘art for all’. wearer’s mood.

By Henry Halliday Sparling, early 1890s Modern print from the original film negative By Ben Murphy September 2002 Given by Emery Walker Ltd, 1956 Colour coupler print x19621 x125838 Camden Connections #3 (From Science Fiction to Surgery)

Thomas Heatherwick b.1970 1861–1941 Designer Poet Did you know? Heatherwick has worked on Did you know? At Tagore’s cremation mourners a design for a ‘Garden Bridge’ - a new green searched space that is proposed to span the River his funeral pyre for bones to keep as mementoes. Thames, London. Camden Connection: When visiting London Camden Connection: Heatherwick’s studio is on in 1912 Tagore stayed in the Vale of Health, Gray’s Inn Road, Camden. Hampstead. Biography: London-born Heatherwick studied Biography: Nobel Prize-winning poet and Three Dimensional Design at Manchester educationalist, Tagore achieved early success as Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. In 1994 a writer in his native Bengal and worldwide fame he founded his practice Heatherwick Studio. through translations of his work. In addition to His designs include the London 2012 Olympic fifty volumes of poetry, he wrote plays, novels Cauldron, the new London Routemaster bus, and the Indian and Bengali national anthems. and the Seed Cathedral, the UK pavilion at the He was knighted in 1915, however in 1919 he Shanghai World Expo 2010. resigned the honour in protest over British policies in India.

By Elena Heatherwick, 2014 By W. Fearon Halliday, 1920s Colour coupler print Bromide print x139989 P992 Aldous Huxley 1894–1963 Paul Nurse b.1949 Writer Geneticist Did you know? Huxley wrote his autobiographical Did you know? Nurse discovered that his own novel of Perception (1953) under the genetic history was unknown to him when an influence of hallucinogenic drugs. application for a visa led to the revelation that his sister was in fact his mother. Camden Connection: Huxley lived in Hampstead. Camden Connection: Nurse is Director of the Biography: Huxley’s work has been highly , St Pancras. When fully open influential in the genre of science fiction. After in 2016, the Institute will be the biggest centre for finishing university, he taught biomedical research and innovation in Europe. at his old school, Eton College, where George Orwell was his pupil. During the interwar years Biography: Nurse won the 2001 Nobel Prize for Huxley achieved international fame with his novel Medicine (with two colleagues). His important Brave New World (1932). He later settled in the discoveries have improved our understanding of USA and worked as a Hollywood screenwriter. how cancer cells divide. Nurse was formerly Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK. He has been President of Rockefeller University in New York since 2003 and President of the Royal Society since 2010.

By Cecil Beaton, 1936 Bromide print By Jason Bell, 8 June 2009 Given by Cecil Beaton, 1968 Inkjet print P869 (17) x134066 Marie Stopes 1880–1958 Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake Campaigner 1865–1925 Did you know? Today the Marie Stopes Surgeon organisation provides reproductive and sexual Did you know? During the First World War Blake health services around the world. set up hospitals on battlefields and worked on the Camden Connection: Stopes studied botany and front line for the Red Cross. geology at University College London, Bloomsbury Camden Connection: Blake worked at two and opened her first clinic in . Camden hospitals. She is remembered by a statue Biography: Author of the best-selling books in . Married Love and Wise Parenthood (1918), Biography: Blake was the first British woman to Stopes brought the question of family planning obtain the Master of Surgery degree. She became into the public arena. She opened several birth a senior consultant at the Elizabeth Garrett control clinics in . By 1930 she had joined Anderson hospital for women and the Canning forces with other family planning organisations to Town Women’s Hospital. Blake was also an form the National Birth Control Council, later to anaesthetist at the . become the Family Planning Association.

Marie Stopes photographed with her son By Bassano Ltd, 26 June 1924 By Bassano Ltd, 12 February 1925 Modern print from the original glass negative Modern print from the original glass negative x127855 x158757 Camden Connection #4 (From Digging to Dreams)

Dame Agatha Christie 1914–44 1890–1976 Secret Agent Writer Did you know? Khan was the first female radio Did you know? gave operator to be sent to France in the Second Christie’s fictional character, the Belgian World War as part of a sabotage force called the detective Hercule Poirot, a full page obituary Special Operations Executive. when he ‘died’. Camden Connection: Khan lived in Bloomsbury as Camden Connection: Christie lived in the a child. In 2012 a sculpture to remember her by Modernist Isokon Building in Hampstead at the was installed in nearby . same time as several Soviet spies. Biography: Khan was born in Moscow to an Biography: Christie is one of the most successful Indian father and an American mother and was crime writers of all time. She created two of the raised in France and Britain. She joined the British most popular and enduring fictional detectives Army and supported the work of the French around whom many of her books are based: Resistance. She was captured by the German Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. It was assisting Army in 1944 and executed. In 1949 she was archaeological expeditions with her second awarded the George Cross. husband Max Mallowan that inspired her to write Death on the Nile (1937). Christie’s play, The Mousetrap, is the longest running show in the history of London’s West End. Dame Agatha Christie with sculptor By an unknown photographer, 1937 Lyn Kramer Modern print from the original glass By John Garner, 1972 negative Silver gelatin print Courtesy The Nekbakht Foundation x17073 x199215 b.1976 1882–1941 Actor Writer Did you know? Cumberbatch has a condition Did you know? Woolf would often walk around called sectoral heterochromia; a difference in London to gain artistic inspiration for her work. colour between the iris of one eye and the other. Camden Connection: Woolf lived in Tavistock Camden Connection: Cumberbatch lives in Square, Bloomsbury where there is now a statue Hampstead. by which to remember her. She married Leonard Woolf at Camden Town Hall. Biography: Cumberbatch studied drama at Manchester University and the London Academy Biography: Woolf was a central figure in of Music and Drama (LAMDA). Notable roles to the of writers, artists and date have been in the BBC series Sherlock intellectuals in the early twentieth-century. She (2010– ), Academy Award-winning film12 Years wanted to find a modern way of writing and her a Slave (2013) and Oscar-nominated The many novels, including Mrs Dalloway (1925), Imitation Game (2014). transformed ideas about structure, plot and characterisation. Woolf was affected by mental health issues throughout her life and committed suicide in 1941.

By Spencer Murphy, 2010 By Gisèle Freund, 1939 Colour coupler print Colour dye transfer print x134408 P440 Sigmund Freud 1856–1939 Sir Flinders Petrie 1853–1942 Psychoanalyst Archaeologist Did you know? In 1933 the Nazis burnt over Did you know? Petrie was one of the first 25,000 books that were considered to be un- archaeologists to use photography to capture his German, including the works of Freud. Many of finds and that he used a pinhole camera to do the books’ authors were persecuted and had to this. leave their home countries. Camden Connection: Petrie lived in Hampstead. Camden Connection: Freud’s home in Hampstead A head preserved in a jar at the Royal College of is now the . The Oscar Nemon statue Image not available for Surgeons, Bloomsbury is thought to be that of of him shown in this portrait is situated nearby. copyright reasons Petrie. The Petrie Museum is part of University College London, also in Bloomsbury. Biography: After studying medicine in Vienna, Freud developed a method to treat mental health Biography: Petrie revolutionised methods of problems that involved analysing a patient’s archaeological excavation in Egypt through the dreams. Freud emigrated to England to escape collection and dating of small, broken fragments Nazi-occupied Austria and spent his final years in of pottery and objects. He insisted that they, London as a Jewish refugee. along with the larger finds, had a story to tell.

Oscar Nemon with his statue of Sigmund Freud By Walter Stoneman, 1917 For Camera Press, 1971 Modern silver gelatin print from the Silver gelatin print original glass negative x184148 x43312 Camden Connection #5 (From Suffrage to Soundcheck)

Sir b.1932 1983–2011 Playwright Singer Did you know? Wesker was integral in the Did you know? This portrait of Winehouse, famous transformation of the arts centre for her distinctive Beehive hairstyle, was used for from a railway repair shed in 1964 into one of her album cover Back to Black (2006). London’s most popular music and cultural venues. Camden Connection: Winehouse was a resident of Camden Connection: Wesker lived in Highgate. Camden Town. A statue of her can be found in the This year’s Creative Connections partner, Camden Stables Market. Haverstock School, is located next to the Roundhouse and works closely with it. Biography: Winehouse trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, London and sang as a vocalist Biography: Wesker’s strong commitment to with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. She made politics and deep sympathy for the human internationally acclaimed albums and won five condition are evident in the themes of his writing. Grammys, three Ivor Novello Awards and a Brit Among his thirty-six plays are The Kitchen (1959), Award for Best Female Artist. Her battle with The Wesker Trilogy (1956-8) and Chips with addiction was widely covered in the media and Everything (1962). Wesker has an international she died at the age of twenty-seven. reputation and his work has been translated into eighteen languages.

By Fay Godwin, 1974 Silver gelatin print By Mischa Richter, 24 July 2006 Given by Fay Godwin, 1980 Colour coupler print x12942 x131006 b.1975 David Pitt, Baron Pitt of Writer Hampstead 1913–94 Did you know? In her book White Teeth, Smith Parliamentarian uses peoples’ teeth as a metaphor for human Did you know? Pitt helped found the Campaign characteristics. Against Racial Discrimination in 1964 with advice Camden Connection: Smith went to Hampstead from Dr Martin Luther King. School. Camden Connection: Pitt had a medical practice Biography: Smith was born in , to in the Euston area. He was made Baron Pitt of Image not available for an English father and Jamaican mother. She Hampstead in 1975. copyright reasons graduated from Cambridge University with a first Biography: Born in Grenada, Pitt won a class degree in English Literature. She won the scholarship to study medicine in Edinburgh. He Whitbread First Novel Award with her book White returned to Britain and established a medical Teeth (2000) and continues to enjoy literary practice servicing the local Caribbean community. success. Other awards won by Smith include the Pitt became a spokesperson for migrant rights Man Booker and the Orange prizes for fiction. and was selected as the Labour candidate for Hampstead in the 1957 election. Pitt sat in the House of Lords from 1975 and was the longest serving black Parliamentarian.

By Ben Murphy By Neil Kenlock, 1976 Colour coupler print, 2000 Silver gelatin print x125078 x126195 Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett Dame Tessa Jowell b.1947 1847–1929 Politician Campaigner Did you know? Jowell worked for ten years Did you know? Fawcett’s work and commitment on the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic to the empowerment of women continues today Games and played a crucial role in securing through the Fawcett Society, founded in 1866. London’s bid. Camden Connection: Fawcett lived in Bloomsbury. Camden Connection: Jowell lives in Highgate and is a former Camden Councillor. Biography: During her teenage years Fawcett became involved in women’s rights and suffrage Biography: Born in London, Jowell has held (the right to vote). Fawcett co-founded the a variety of ministerial positions during her women-only Newnham College at Cambridge political career including Minister for Women University (1871). Under her presidency (1897– (1998-2001) and Secretary of State for Culture, 1919) the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Media and Sport (2001–7). Societies (NUWSS) became the largest of its kind. Her sister was Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, the first woman to qualify as a doctor in England.

By W. & D. Downey, published by Cassell & Company, Ltd By Brian Griffin, 2 February 2010 Carbon print, published 1890 Inkjet print x28146 P1711 Camden Radical Characters

The Camden Radical Characters are made-up of objects that represent interesting and curious facts about the ‘Camden Connected’ people from the National Portrait Gallery Collection. Each Character represents six of these people – the biographies and Character titles provide clues as to who these are.

Radical Character #1 (From Songs to Surrealism) by Kate Peters © National Portrait Gallery Radical Character #2 Radical Character #3 (From Whiz-bang to Wakefield) (From Science Fiction to Surgery) by Kate Peters © National Portrait Gallery by Kate Peters © National Portrait Gallery Radical Character #4 Radical Character #5 (From Digging to Dreams) (From Suffrage to Soundcheck) by Kate Peters © National Portrait Gallery by Kate Peters © National Portrait Gallery The display

© National Portrait Gallery Private View

Young people, their family, friends and school community celebrate at the launch with the Project Supporter, Artist and the Gallery team.

By K.Martin and the National Portrait Gallery Youth Forum © National Portrait Gallery Project Partners

Haverstock School Copyright acknowledgements Camden sitters Haverstock School is an inclusive, comprehensive school in Alan Bennett, by Derry Moore, NPG P525 © Derry Moore Aldous Huxley, by Cecil Beaton, NPG P869 (17) © Cecil Beaton Studio Archive, Sotheby’s Chalk Farm, Camden. The school community is culturally London and intellectually rich and diverse. Haverstock’s core Amy Winehouse, by Mischa Richter, NPG x131006 © Mischa Richter responsibilities are to ensure that when young people Benedict Cumberbatch, by Spencer Murphy, NPG x134408, © Spencer Murphy leave the school, they do so with the highest academic Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, by Ida Kar, NPG 131164 © National Portrait Gallery qualifications; skills that give them opportunities to have Charles Dickens, after Unknown artist, Given by Terence Pepper, NPG x135439 successful careers and families; and values and attitudes that © National Portrait Gallery will make the world a better place. Dame Agatha Christie, by John Garner, NPG x17073 © National Portrait Gallery Dame Barbara Hepworth, by Jorge (‘J.S.’) Lewinski, NPG x13720 © Estate of Jorge Lewinski Dame Louisa Aldrich-Blake, by (Mary) Olive Edis, NPG x28146 © National Portrait Gallery Participants: Creative Connections Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett, by Olive Edis, NPG x28146 © National Portrait Gallery Shima Sheima Shining Kelsey Dame Tessa Jowell, by Brian Griffin, NPG P1711 © Brian Griffin Vanessa Mark Shaima Bethany David Pitt, Baron Pitt of Hampstead, by Neil Kenlock, NPG x126195 © Neil Kenlock Edward Miliband, by Kate Peters, NPG x138045 © Kate Peters Cassandra Hassan Khadijah Zaynab Glenda Jackson, by Terry O’Neill, Given by Terry O’Neill, NPG x34557 Rabina Samiah Arian Hamzo © Iconic Images/Terry O’Neill Helena Bonham Carter, by David Seidner, NPG P876 © International Center of Photography, Hadeel Kamil Dion Sabrin David Seiner Archive Nathan Jason Charlie Daniela Lee Miller, by Man Ray, NPG x137575 © Man Ray Trust/ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London Argjenda Aaron Emma Tansuma Marie Stops, by Bassano Ltd, NPG x127855 © National Portrait Gallery Matthew Williamson, by Ben Murphy, NPG x12583 © Ben Murphy Noor Inayat Khan, NPG x199215 © National Portrait Gallery Project Artist, Kate Peters Paul Nurse, by Jason Bell, NPG x134066 © Jason Bell Kate Peters is a photographer based in London. Inspired Paul Robeson, by Madame Yevonde, NPG x29838 © Yevonde Portrait Archive by a rebellious photography teacher, Kate began making Sigmund Freud, International News Photos, NPG x184148 © Camera Press photographs at school and she says: ‘I have never stopped, Sir Arnold Wesker, by Fay Godwin, NPG x12942 © estate of Fay Godwin just got a little bit better at it, I hope’. Dividing her time Sir Flinders Petrie, by Walter Stoneman, NPG x43313 © National Portrait Gallery between personal projects and commissions, Kate’s work Sir Rabindranath Tagore, by W. Fearon Halliday, NPG P992 © National Portrait Gallery Thomas Heatherwick, by Elena Heatherwick, NPG x139989 © Elena Heatherwick has been exhibited internationally and is held in private and Virginia Woolf, by Gisèle Freund, NPG P440 © Estate Gisèle Freund / IMEC Images public collections, including that of the National Portrait Walter Sickert, by George Woodbine, for Daily Herald, NPG x74799 © Science & Society Picture Gallery. Library / National Portrait Gallery William Morris, by Henry Halliday Sparling, Given by Emery Walker Ltd, NPG x19621 © National Portrait Gallery Zadie Smith, by Ben Murphy, NPG x125078 © Ben Murphy npg.org.uk/creativeconnections