Title
Portrait of Elizabeth BowenDate1964
MediumVintage gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 25 × 19.5 cm
Credit LinePresented, 2019
Object numberNGI.2019.181
DescriptionDescribed as an "English Cartier-Bresson" by Lord Snowdon, Jane Bown started her photographic career in 1949 when her portrait of British philosopher and Nobel laureate, Bertrand Russell appeared in The Observer. Bown is admired for her straightforward, naturally posed, black and white portraits, usually taken with available light. She has photographed some of the world’s most notable actors, writers, artists and politicians including Samuel Beckett, Francis Bacon, Margaret Thatcher, and Queen Elizabeth II. In 1995 she was awarded a CBE for her outstanding contribution to photography. Bown is represented by 6 works in total in the NGI collection.Elizabeth Bowen, CBE (1899-1973) was an Irish-British novelist and short story writer, notable for some of the best fiction about life in wartime London. Bown’s portrait of Bowen captures her in a moment of quiet, yet focused, contemplation.