Lallie Charles

Lallie Charles (née Charlotte Elizabeth Martin) (1869–1919), was an Irish photographer. Along with her sister Rita Martin, was 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] She was a society photographer. In 1896 she opened her first studio, called "The Nook", at 1 Titchfield Road, Regent's Park, London. In 1897 Rita Martin, her sister, went to work with her[4] In 1906 Martin opened her own studio at 27 Baker Street and the two sisters became competitors.[5]

Charles was inspired by Alice Hughes; other pioneer women photographers of her time, other than her sister, are: Christina Broom, Kate Pragnell and Lizzie Caswall Smith.[6] Mme Yevonde was an apprentice of Charles, and Cecil Beaton, as a young man, posed for a family portrait, an experience he later described in his book Photobiography.[7] 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".[8] Charles was secondly married to Herbert Carr, and died in Mayfair, London, on 5 April 1919.[3]

A small selection of negatives by Lallie Charles and Rita Martin are preserved at the National Portrait Gallery donated by their niece Lallie Charles Cowell in 1994.[9]

References
  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 2020-06-06.
  4. Rideal, Liz (2002). Mirror, Mirror: Self-portraits by Women Artists. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 46. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  5. Beaton, Cecil (1944). British photographers. p. 30. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  6. "Women Pioneers". The Hyman Collection. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  7. Doy, Gen (2005). Picturing the Self: Changing Views of the Subject in Visual Culture. I.B.Tauris. p. 115. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  8. Beaton, Cecil (1933). The Book Of Beauty. Retrieved 18 January 2018.

{{Category:Irish women photographers]]

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