Sir Portrait
30 Portraits of Roy Strong
Published on 19. June 2015
Book
Hardback
96 pages
978-0-7112-3741-4 (ISBN)
Description
How does the former Director of the nation's greatest collection of portraits celebrate his 80th birthday? The distinguished photographer John Swannell and Roy Strong have devised a series of thirty portraits that transport Roy through time, inventing and reinventing him as an array of historical characters.
With a sharp eye for period style and dress, and flashes of a tongue-in-cheek wit, Roy and John spent five years on a project in which he takes on the characters of Henry VIII, Toulouse Lautrec, Rasputin, President Lincoln and many more. The results, together with Roy's diary relating the stories behind the sittings, make a remarkable photographic essay of a man rightly dubbed 'Sir Portrait'.
Sir Portrait is an enchanting book, a work of playful connoisseurship, and a celebration of a life in portraits.
With a sharp eye for period style and dress, and flashes of a tongue-in-cheek wit, Roy and John spent five years on a project in which he takes on the characters of Henry VIII, Toulouse Lautrec, Rasputin, President Lincoln and many more. The results, together with Roy's diary relating the stories behind the sittings, make a remarkable photographic essay of a man rightly dubbed 'Sir Portrait'.
Sir Portrait is an enchanting book, a work of playful connoisseurship, and a celebration of a life in portraits.
Reviews / Votes
' This magnificently potty book takes us through 30 version of Roy done after celebrated portraits, or in the manner of various schools. The book is a tease. As with everything Sir Roy does, there is more than meets the mirthful eye. Look at and read this book. You' ll have a camp old time of it, but you' ll learn more than you thought you might.'More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Quarto Publishing PLC
Illustrations
65 photographs in colour and black & white
Dimensions
Height: 267 mm
Width: 250 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7112-3741-4 (9780711237414)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
JOHN SWANNELL assisted David Bailey for four years before setting up his own studio working for magazines such as Vogue, Harpers & Queen, the Sunday Times and Tatler. In 1993 he was awarded a Fellowship of The Royal Photographic Society; one of the youngest members to have achieved this status at the time. In 1994, Diana, The Princess of Wales personally commissioned John to photograph her together with her sons. In 2012 John was commissioned to take the only official portrait of HM The Queen to celebrate Her Diamond Jubilee. The National Portrait Gallery in London has over fifty of his photographs, and his work is also in the collections of the V&A, The National Gallery of Scotland and The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
SIR ROY STRONG is a well-known historian and garden writer, lecturer, critic and columnist and a regular contributor to television and radio programmes. He was Director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1967 to 1973 and of the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1974 to 1987. In 1980 he was awarded the prestigious Shakespeare Prize by the FVS Foundation of Hamburg in recognition of his contribution to the arts in the UK. He has published a number of highly acclaimed books. Sir Roy lives in Hereford, where, with his late wife, Julia Trevelyan Oman, who died in 2003, he designed one of England's largest post-war formal gardens. He now works full-time as a writer and broadcaster.
SIR ROY STRONG is a well-known historian and garden writer, lecturer, critic and columnist and a regular contributor to television and radio programmes. He was Director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1967 to 1973 and of the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1974 to 1987. In 1980 he was awarded the prestigious Shakespeare Prize by the FVS Foundation of Hamburg in recognition of his contribution to the arts in the UK. He has published a number of highly acclaimed books. Sir Roy lives in Hereford, where, with his late wife, Julia Trevelyan Oman, who died in 2003, he designed one of England's largest post-war formal gardens. He now works full-time as a writer and broadcaster.