Yevonde: Life and Colour

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Dwyer, Britta C. (13 November 2006). "The Zinkeisen sisters – Great Scotswomen (from The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women)". Heritage & Culture. Edinburgh University Press. Archived from the original on 7 August 2007 . Retrieved 17 April 2010.

Despite the successes in her time, Madame Yevonde’s pioneering work has been overshadowed in history by her male compatriots—as is often the case for many women artists. The auction and museum worlds have historically played a part in diminishing the contributions of women artists: a 2019 study showed that between 2008 and 2018, women artists accounted for only 11 percent of major museum acquisitions in the United States, and even fewer have received exhibitions dedicated solely to their work. This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sourcesin this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Madame Yevonde (1893-1975) was the first British photographer to exhibit colour portraits. She was born and lived in London, where she became wrapped up in the suffragette movement as a member of the WSPU, later going on to serve in the Women’s Land Army.

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Oliver Cromwell and his Roundheads face Charles I and his Cavaliers in a marvellous reprise of the English civil war through art. Eighteenth-century London is a fabulous throng of writers, drinkers, actors and ribald satirists. Nobody is isolated; every person, and their image, is treated as part of a living society. Yevonde: Life in Colour, will feature 150 portraits by the artist, who became an innovator in new techniques, experimenting with solarisation and the Vivex colour process. It is the first exhibition dedicated to her since 1998 and will open in June. I spoke with curator Clare Freestone and Katayoun Dowlatshahi, the artist responsible for hand-crafting many of the colour prints on display. Dowlatshahi was brought in for her expertise in using the colour carbon transfer process to mimic the look of the Vivex process. This magnificent reinvention could not happen without deep observation, curiosity, wisdom and experience. And above all, perhaps, with the sense of humour that is everywhere apparent and perceived as a British trait. You could spend days here, in this spectacular building, with its cobalt and vermilion walls and more than 1,000 exhibits, and come away every time with a new understanding of British history, life and art. It is enthralling that there are further revelations to be transformed into colour after almost a century or, for some, for the very first time.”

This revelation suddenly breathed life into her photos, as I began to notice the number of soldiers featured in her portraits alongside an impressive range of celebrities from A. A. Milne to Paul Robeson. As it turns out, Yevonde began taking photos of celebrity ‘workers in war-time’ which were reproduced in The Sketch and was responsible for helping families identify their loved ones who were lost during wartime through portraits she had taken of them. Scholes, Lucy (19 August 2023). "A Riot of Color". The New York Review of Books . Retrieved 25 August 2023.

Yevonde in print

The exhibition’s strength is in its understanding that art is always a collaborative affair. Yevonde is the star of the show but there are other important contributors. The National Portrait Gallery, London, reopens in June following a three-year closure for the “ largest redevelopment” in its 127-year history. Its opening exhibition, Yevonde: Life and Colour, will be the most comprehensive to date on British photographer, Yevonde Middleton (1893-1975).