Never-before-seen photographs of the Royal Family by some of the world’s greatest photographers are set to go on display in a new exhibition, Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography, at the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace this summer. Works spanning 100 years, by everyone from Sir Cecil Beaton and Lord Snowdon to Andy Warhol and David Bailey, will shine a light on royal portrait photography and the stories behind some of the most celebrated photographs ever taken of the royals.
Over 150 photographs, proofs and documents from the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives will go on display, most of which have never been seen before. These include works by the most celebrated photographers of the time, from Sir Cecil Beaton and Lord Snowdon to Annie Leibovitz and Rankin, curated to show the power of photography and how it has been used to shape the public’s perception of the British monarchy over the years.
The exhibition opens with a focus on the 1920s and 30s, a period that is often cited as a golden age of photography. This was a time when photographic studios across London proliferated; many of them were run by women, with female photographers such as Dorothy Wilding and Madame Yevonde pushing the boundaries of their medium. It was a boom which saw the ‘Bright Young Things’ – among them the younger British royals – keen to be captured on camera.
The next part of the show looks to the mid 20th century. Notably the renowned photographer Sir Cecil Beaton, who became court photographer in 1937 and continued to capture the British Royal Family for the following three generations (it was Beaton, of course, who was commissioned to take the official Coronation portraits of Queen Elizabeth II). Visitors will be able to see first-hand some of Beaton’s most memorable images – again, rarely displayed in public – taken over six decades.
Highlights include Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s 1939 photoshoot in Buckingham Palace Gardens, wearing her ‘White Wardrobe’ by Norman Hartnell; a portrait of Princess Elizabeth as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards taken in 1942; as well as Princess Margaret’s official 19th birthday photos from 1949.
The exhibition also spotlights the evolving relationship between royal sitters and photographers, most clearly seen through the lens of Antony Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon). The fashion and portrait photographer became hugely popular in the 1950s for his relatively informal style, which caught the eye of the royal family, particularly Princess Margaret (whom he wed in 1960). His intimate portraits of the Princess – taken before and during their marriage – reflect the depth of their relationship.
The final room of the exhibition is dedicated to the 1980s onwards, showcasing how photography became more of an art form and the photographer as much of a celebrity as their subject. Nowhere is this better reflected than in Andy Warhol’s diamond-dust-sprinkled screenprint of Elizabeth II Reigning Queens (Royal Edition): Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, 1985. Also on display are images by Rankin, David Bailey, Nick Knight and Annie Leibovitz, reflecting an increasingly playful, varied approach to royal photography.
Handwritten annotations from photographers and never-before-seen correspondence further shed light on the behind-the-scenes processes, revealing the untold stories behind some of the most famous royal portraits of the last century. ‘We are excited for visitors to discover the beauty and materiality of these original prints, many on display for the first time, and we hope they will also enjoy a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creative process behind some of these iconic royal images,” says curator Alessandro Nasini.
From November, the gallery draws from the archive of the Royal Collection (which has one of the world’s greatest collections of Italian drawings) with Drawing the Italian Renaissance. 160 works by over 80 artists – including Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian – have been curated to show how drawing became integral to the creative process in the 15th and 16th centuries.
‘Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography’ at the King’s Gallery runs from Friday 17 May to Sunday 6 October
rct.uk
