norman - SEM-ART Gallery

NORMAN
PARKINSON
(1913 - 1990)
ANGLAIS
N
orman Parkinson, un « incurable romantique », ne
fait pas secret que, pour lui, la photographie n’est
pas un art. Il donne ce conseil : « dans vos photos,
mettez du bonheur et du soleil, de la joie et du désir
». On pourrait voir là une conception assez limitée
des possibilités qu’offre « l’artisanat » qu’il pratique.
Pourtant, son talent est loin d’être limité : pendant
des décennies, Parkinson a été l’un des plus grands
portraitistes et photographes de mode de GrandeBretagne.
La nouvelle élégance paraît en effet crédible et
accessible. Elle apporte un souffle d’air frais après
les images lointaines et souvent élitistes de la haute
couture d’après la guerre. Le caractère irréel d’une
grande partie de ses photos de mode à cette époque
débouche peu à peu sur un style énergique, plus vif.
Le côté fantaisiste est surtout une façon d’attirer
l’attention, mais ce sont bien les vêtements qui sont
à l’honneur.
Les portraits de Norman Parkinson sont toujours
élégants et attirants, et jamais trop sérieux, car ils ne
cherchent pas à saisir des expressions particulièrement
riches de sens. Le photographe s’intéresse surtout à
la composition, à la forme de la tête et des mains, à
la texture de la peau et des matières. Dès les années
1930, Parkinson fait preuve d’un grand don pour la
photographie en couleurs et il reste renommé dans ce
domaine. À l’aide de très peu de couleurs – certaines
de ses images sont pratiquement monochromes
–, il obtient des résultats étonnants, souvent très
romantiques.
Les sujets habituels de Parkinson sont – on peut s’y
attendre – des modèles élégants, célèbres ou glamour.
Pourtant, une partie de son travail des années 1930,
et notamment son étude poignante de familles de
mineurs galloises durant la crise ou ses photos pour
The Bystander montrent qu’il avait aussi un œil de
reporter. À la fin des années 1930, il était devenu
expert dans l’art de suggérer le mouvement sur des
images fixes.
Le travail qu’il réalise à l’époque dans le domaine de
la mode marque un tournant. Les photos qu’il fait
de sa femme, Wenda Roberson, sont représentatifs
de son style dans l’immédiat après-guerre. Le
modèle, souriant et bien sage, situé dans un décor
sans prétention, devient une image nouvelle avec
laquelle les Britanniques adeptes de la mode peuvent
facilement s’identifier.
La vitalité de Parkinson, son humour empreint de
dérision, son goût pour la beauté mais pas pour la
joliesse, et, surtout, son originalité sont autant de
qualités qui transparaissent dans son œuvre. Luimême se considère comme un artisan, mais ils sont
nombreux à voir en lui un artiste consommé.
SEM-ART
20, avenue de la Costa
98000 - MONACO
Tel. : +377 97 70 50 70
Fax : +377 97 70 50 77
[email protected]
w w w. s e m - a r t . m c
1
Biographie
1913
1927 - 31
1931 - 33
1934
1935
1935 - 40
1937
1938
1942
1947
1949
1950
1951
1953
1956
1958
1960 - 64
1961 - 64
1963
1964
1966
1967
1968
1969
1971
1972
1973
1975
1978
•Born April 21st Ronald William Parkinson Smith
•Educated at Westminster School London
•Apprenticed Speights & Son of Bond Street
•Sets up the Norman Parkinson studio with Norman Kibblewhite at One Dover Street,
specialising in portraiture.
•First one man exhibition including portraits of Vivien Leigh and Noel Coward. Recruited
by Harpers Bazaar to take editorial photographs
•Monthly commissions for Harper’s Bazaar as well as portraits and reportage work for
The Bystander
•Follows Edward Prince of Wales to depressed Welsh mining areas and takes a
compassionate series of portraits of miners and their families.
•First colour photographs for Harper’s Bazaar. Travels to New York to cover the World’s
Fair for The Bystander. Does covert work for the Air Ministry taking photographs for
leaflets dropped over occupied Europe.
•Begins long association with British Vogue.
•Meets, photographs and marries Wenda Rogerson a promising young actress.
•Begins working for American Vogue. Photographs London Spring Collection on location
near London Landmarks including the ‘New Look’ at The National Gallery. Portrait series
for British Vogue of artists, writers, intellectuals, theatre and musical personalities.
•Photographs Paris Collection for British and American Vogue. First visit to Jamaica.
•Travels to South Africa for a special edition of Vogue and photographs Wenda posed
high above Victoria Falls and riding on the back of an ostrich.
•March issue of Vogue features a 12-page portfolio of all the leading British couturiers.
•Tours round India taking photographs of models Anne Gunning and Barbara Mullen.
•July Vogue features Italian trip with model Nena Von Schlebrugge.
•Contract expires with Vogue and recruited as Associate Editor of Queen Magazine the
most influential fashion and features magazine of the early 1960’s.
•Continues work for queen with worldwide assignments featuring models Celia
Hammond, Jean Shrimpton, Melaine Hampshire, Carmen, Pat Booth and Tania Mallett.
•Moves from Twickenham to Tobago to build a dream house high on the cliffs above the
sea.
•Photographs the Beatles at a recording session at Abbey Road Studios. Contract
with Queen ends and returns to Conde Nast to work until the mid 70’s on British and
American Vogue as well as freelancing for life Magazine and others.
•Photographs Prince Philip on royal visit to Tobago
•Location work in Rome including sessions with Twiggy, Racquel Welch, Celia Hammond
and Wenda.
•Elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society
•First official photographs of Prince Charles at his investiture as Prince of Wales. Also
Princess Anne on her horse in Windsor Great Park, and official portraits for her 19th
birthday.
•Photographs Apollonia Van Ravenstein on Bird Island in the Seychelles. Official portraits
of Princess Anne for her 21st birthday.
•Elizabeth Taylor at 40 wearing a wig to match her shitsu dog.
•Trips to the Algarve and Barbados. Official engagement and wedding portraits of
Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips.
•Official photographs for Queen Mothers 75th birthday.
•7000 mile journey across Soviet Union with Jerry Hall as model.
•Quartet publishes his first book ‘Sisters Under the Skin’
SEM-ART
20, avenue de la Costa
98000 - MONACO
Tel. : +377 97 70 50 70
Fax : +377 97 70 50 77
[email protected]
w w w. s e m - a r t . m c
2
1980
1981
1982
1983
1990
2004
2004
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
•Begins regular assignments for Hearst magazine ‘Town & Country’.
•Official photographs for Queen Mother’s 80th Birthday including ‘Blue Trinity’ portrait
of the Queen, The Queen Mother & Princess Margaret.
•New Years honours list elevates Parks to Commander of the British Empire. Official
photographs of Princess Margaret for her 50th Birthday. First major museum
retrospective held in the National Portrait Gallery.
•Lifetime achievement in photography award for contribution to American magazines by
American Society of Magazine Photographers.
•Elizabeth Taylor at 50 for Life Magazine.
•First retrospective opens in America at International Centre of Photography in New
York.
• Norman Parkinson dies while on assignment in Singapore.
•National Portrait Gallery, London (touring the UK
•Staley Wise, New York
•Hamiltons Gallery, London
•National Portrait Gallery, London (touring the UK)
•Staley Wise, New York
•Hamiltons Gallery, London
•Norman Parkinson- Scene and Unseen, Special Exhibition, ArtLondon October
•Sking – Group Exhibition organised by Birgit Filzmaier, Zurich, Switzerland Winter 2007
•Norman Parkinson – Retrospective, organised by the Moscow House of Photography,
Moscow, March – April 2007
•Norman Parkinson/Philip Treacy, Eleven Fine Arts, London July – September 2007
•Muses, Mothers, Models – Group exhibition organised by Bernheimer Fine Old Masters,
Munich, Germany June – August 2007
•How We Are: Photographing Britain, Group Exhibition organised by Tate Britain, London 22
May – 2 September 2007
•Fashion - Group exhibition organised by CameraWork, Berlin, Germany September –
November 2008
•Norman Parkinson – Fashion Inside and Out, The Parking Lot, London, February – May 2008
•Norman Parkinson, Contacts, Cigarettes, Colour, Paul Smith, Albemarle Street, London, 5 – 22
November 2008
•Norman Parkinson, British Fashion, 1950-1960, Birgit Filzmaier, Summer 2009
•Norman Parkinson, A Very British Glamour, Somerset House, London, 8 October 2009 – 31
January 2010
•Norman Parkinson, Galleria Carla Sozzani, 10 Corso Como, Milan, 28 November 2009 – 17
January 2010
•Masterpieces - Norman Parkinson, Terence Donovan, and Patrick Lichfield, The Little Black
Gallery, Chelsea, London, 17 February – 10 April 2010
•Threads - group fashion exhibition including Norman Parkinson, Diemar/Noble, Fitzrovia,
London, 12th May – 12 July 2010
•Norman Parkinson 1913- 1990, Chris Beetles Gallery, St James, London, 19 May – 12 June 2010
•Pink is the Navy Blue of India - A touring solo exhibition combining some of Parkinson’siconic
images with a lesser known series from a 1956 Vogue shoot in India.
•Ahmedabad: 12 August - 21 August 2011
•Kolkata: 15 October - 25 October 2011
•Delhi: 21 January - 31 January 2012
•Bangalore: 25 February - 20 March 2012
•Mumbai: 27 April - 05 May 2012
•Norman Parkinson – The Godfather of British Fashion Photography - The Glamour Years,
Gallery Vassie, Amsterdam, November 2011 - March 2012
His exhibitions have included a major retrospective in New York, a vintage print show at Hamiltons Gallery in
London, a selection of Royal portraits at the Royal Albert Hall and a much acclaimed retrospective at the Royal
Photographic in Bath.
SEM-ART
20, avenue de la Costa
98000 - MONACO
Tel. : +377 97 70 50 70
Fax : +377 97 70 50 77
[email protected]
w w w. s e m - a r t . m c
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