Lallie Charles

Lallie Charles
Self-portrait, 1900s
Born
Charlotte Elizabeth Martin

1869 (1869)
Ireland
Died1919 (aged 49–50)
Mayfair, London, United Kingdom
NationalityBritish
Known forPhotography

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 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]

  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. ^ a b "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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  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.