Lallie Charles

Lallie Charles (née Charlotte Elizabeth Martin) (1869–1919), was an Irish photographer. Along with her sister Rita Martin, she was one of the most commercially successful women portraitists of the early 20th century.[1][2]

Lallie Charles
Self-portrait
Born
Charlotte Elizabeth Martin

1869 (1869)
Died1919 (aged 49–50)
NationalityBritish
Known forPhotography

Lallie Charles was born in Ireland. In about 1895, she married London photographer Georges Garet-Charles, whom she divorced around 1902.[3] Her second husband was Herbert Carr.[4]

She was a society photographer. In 1896, she opened her first studio, The Nook, at 1 Titchfield Road, Regent's Park, London. In 1897, Rita Martin, her sister, went to work with her.[5] In 1906, Martin opened her own studio at 27 Baker Street and the two sisters became competitors.[6] The following year, Charles moved to 39A Curzon Street, where she became the "foremost female portrait photographer of her day".[7]

One of her portraits of a young girl was coloured and used as the cover image for the first issue of The Royal Magazine published by Sir Arthur Pearson in November 1898.[8]

Charles was inspired by Alice Hughes. Other pioneer women photographers of her time, other than her sister, were: Christina Broom, Kate Pragnell and Lizzie Caswall Smith.[9] Mme Yevonde was an apprentice of Charles, and Cecil Beaton, as a young man, posed for a family portrait, an experience he described in his book Photobiography.[10] Talking about the sisters, Beaton said: "Rita Martin and her sister, Lallie Charles, the rival photographer, posed their sitters in a soft conservatory-looking light, making all hair deliriously fashionable to be photo-lowered".[11] She died in Mayfair, London, on 5 April 1919.[3]

A small selection of negatives by Lallie Charles and Rita Martin is preserved at the National Portrait Gallery, donated by their niece Lallie Charles Cowell in 1994.[12]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lallie Charles.
  1. "Lallie Charles". The Hyman Collection. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  2. Otto, Whitney (2013). Eight Girls Taking Pictures: A Novel. Simon and Schuster. p. 49. ISBN 9781451682724. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  3. "Charles, Lallie". photolondon.org.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  4. "Herbert Carr - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  5. Rideal, Liz (2002). Mirror, Mirror: Self-portraits by Women Artists. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 46. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  6. Beaton, Cecil (1944). British photographers. p. 30. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  7. Charles, Lallie (2023). "Mirror-Mirror Portrait 7". Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  8. ISSN 1756-364X, Anthony Quinn tony [at] magforum com. "Profiles of modern and historic British monthly and fiction magazines and periodicals". www.magforum.com. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  9. "Women Pioneers". The Hyman Collection. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  10. Doy, Gen (2005). Picturing the Self: Changing Views of the Subject in Visual Culture. I.B.Tauris. p. 115. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  11. Beaton, Cecil (1933). The Book Of Beauty. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
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