Bertram Park
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Bertram Charles Percival Park (1883–1972) was an English
portrait photographer Portrait photography, or portraiture, is a type of photography aimed toward capturing the personality of a person or group of people by using effective lighting, backdrops, and poses. A portrait photograph may be artistic or clinical. Frequentl ...
whose work included British and European royalty. Engravings of his photographs were widely used on British and British Commonwealth
postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...
s, currency, and other official documents in the 1930s. His theatrical portraits were the source for two paintings by
Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...
. With his wife
Yvonne Gregory Yvonne Gregory (1889–1970) was a British society photographer. Gregory married fellow photographer Bertram Park in 1916. Gregory, Park and Marcus Adams established themselves as the "Three Photographers" and based their collective studio ...
, they produced a number of photographic books of the female nude. He was an expert in the cultivation of the rose and the editor of '' The Rose Annual''.


Early life

Bertram Charles Percival Park was born in either
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...
or
Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...
to Charles Percival Park and Katharine Mary Park and baptised at Minster, Kent, England, in 1883.Bertram Park.
''
The Camera Club Bruce Martin Woolley (born 11 November 1953) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He wrote songs with artists such as the Buggles and Grace Jones, including "Video Killed the Radio Star" and " Slave to the Rhythm", a ...
''. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
He initially worked in the family firm which made artist's materials.Bertram Park.
National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 8 January 2016.


Family

In 1916, Park married the photographer
Yvonne Gregory Yvonne Gregory (1889–1970) was a British society photographer. Gregory married fellow photographer Bertram Park in 1916. Gregory, Park and Marcus Adams established themselves as the "Three Photographers" and based their collective studio ...
(1889–1970) at Hampstead, and she became one of his principal models. They had a daughter, Hilary June Park, who was born in Hampstead in 1920. Hilary, known as June, was an architect who married David Francis Rivers Bosanquet in 1941 and divorced him in 1947. Her second marriage was to the Finnish-British architect
Cyril Mardall Cyril Leonard Sjöström Mardall (21 November 1909 – 1 June 1994) born Cyril Leonard Sjöström was a Finnish-born British modernism, modernist architect. In Finland, he is best known for the Finnish Seamen's Church in London, completed in 1958, ...
(1909–1994) in 1947.


Photographic career

In 1910, Bertram Park was one of the founders of the London Salon of Photography. In 1919, with funding from the Egyptologist
Lord Carnarvon Earl of Carnarvon is a title that has been created three times in British history. The current holder is George Herbert, 8th Earl of Carnarvon. The town and county in Wales to which the title refers are historically spelled Caernarfon, having b ...
, he established studios at 43
Dover Street Dover Street is a street in Mayfair, London. The street is notable for its Georgian architecture as well as the location of historic London clubs and hotels, which have been frequented by world leaders and historic figures in the arts. It al ...
, London, with his wife Yvonne and the children's photographer
Marcus Adams Marcus Adams may refer to: * Marcus Adams (director), British film director * Marcus Adams (photographer) (1875–1959), British society photographer * Marcus Adams (Canadian football) (born 1979), Canadian football defensive tackle * Marcus Adams ...
. They shared darkroom staff and facilities and were known as the "Three Photographers". Park's work included British and European royalty and in 1927 he was made an MBE.
The Edinburgh Gazette
', 7 June 1927, p. 654.
In the
1939 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1939 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made to celebrate the o ...
he was made up to
OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
.''The Edinburgh Gazette''
13 June 1939, p. 511.
His images were widely used on British and British Commonwealth postage stamps, currency, and other official documents in the 1930s."The Bertram Park legacy", Brian Livingstone, ''Cross Post'', Vol. 15, No. 2, Spring 2014, pp. 14-21. Park and Gregory were also noted for their publicity photographs for theatrical productions. In 1924 they photographed the first English production of
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...
's '' Saint Joan'' starring
Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her h ...
. In 1932,
Walter Sickert Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group of Post-Impressionist artists in early 20th-century London. He was an important influence on d ...
produced his portrait of the actress ''Miss Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Isabella of France'', ("''La Louve''"), directly from a Park photograph without taking any sittings with Ffrangcon-Davies, although they were closely acquainted. The source was acknowledged by Sickert in an inscription on the painting. Park's photograph was in black and white so Sickert was obliged to add colour to the painting, however, he used a restricted palette causing the critic
Frank Rutter Francis Vane Phipson Rutter (17 February 1876 – 18 April 1937)"Rutter, Frank V. P.", ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007. Retrieved froukwhoswho8 August 2008. was a British art art critic, c ...
to describe the work as "practically a monochrome". Sickert also greatly enlarged the proportions, resulting in a finished work of 245 x 92 cm. Unusually, the
Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...
acquired the painting the same year after a fund-raising campaign to buy it for the gallery led by the Tate's director,
James Bolivar Manson James Bolivar Manson (26 June 1879 in London – 3 July 1945 in London)
.The Camden Town Group in Context. Walter Richard Sickert ''Miss Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Isabella of France'' 1932.
Tate Gallery. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
Sickert joked that it was "only bought for the Tate because of Bertram Park. Another proof that honesty is the best policy"."Newly Discovered Photographic Sources for Walter Sickert's Theatre Paintings of the 1930s"
Rebecca Daniels, ''The Burlington Magazine'', Vol. 148, No. 1237 (April 2006), pp. 272-276.
In 1934, Park and Gregory produced publicity photographs for a production of ''Hamlet'' at the New Theatre, London, one of which was the basis for Walter Sickert's 1935 painting ''Jessica Tandy and John Gielgud in Hamlet''. In 1935 they photographed Gielgud's ''
Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...
'' in which Gielgud and
Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...
exchanged the roles of Romeo and Mercutio. Park and Gregory's theatrical portraits form part of the
University of Bristol Theatre Collection The University of Bristol Theatre Collection was founded in 1951 to serve the University of Bristol Department of Drama. It is now one of the world's largest archives of British Theatre History. It is a fully accredited Archive and Museum and hom ...
.The Bertram Park and Yvonne Gregory Archive.
ArenaPAL. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
Park also produced a number of photographic books featuring the female nude and supplied photographs to
naturist Naturism is a lifestyle of practicing non-sexual social nudity in private and in public; the word also refers to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both may alternatively be called nudism. Though the two terms a ...
publications. This aspect of his oeuvre is discussed extensively in Annebella Pollen's 2021 book, ''Nudism in a Cold Climate''. One of his models was the 1950s glamour model
Pamela Green Phyllis Pamela Green (28 March 1929 – 7 May 2010) was an English glamour model and actress, best known at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s. She modeled for Zoltán Glass and his brother Stephen, Bill Brandt, Joan Craven, Bertram Park, ...
.


Police career

Outside photography, Park was a Commandant in the
Metropolitan Special Constabulary The Metropolitan Special Constabulary (MSC) is the volunteer police force of the Metropolitan Police Service. It is one of three Special Constabularies operating within London, the others being part of the City of London Police and British Tr ...
and was noted as such in 1927 and 1939.


Roses

Park was an expert on the cultivation of the
rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...
about which he wrote many books. He was the editor of '' The Rose Annual'' and in 1957 a review in the
American Institute of Biological Sciences The American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) is a nonprofit scientific public charitable organization. The organization's mission is to promote the use of science to inform decision-making and advance biology for the benefit of science an ...
described his ''The Guide to Roses'', for which he also provided the photographs, as "the last word on roses".


Death and legacy

In later life, Park lived in
Pinner Pinner is a suburb in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, England, northwest of Charing Cross, close to the border with Hillingdon, historically in the county of Middlesex. The population was 38,698 in 2021. Originally a mediaeval ...
, Middlesex, in a house whose grounds he used as a setting for his photography. He died in Pinner in 1972, leaving an estate of £103,322 net."Latest Wills", ''The Times'', 27 February 1973, p. 16. In 1984, his daughter June presented the National Post Museum with an album of 25 pages that Park had created in the late 1940s of his photographs and the stamps based upon them.


Selected publications


Photography

*''Living sculpture: A record of expression in the human figure &c.'',
Batsford Batsford is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. The village is about north-west of Moreton-in-Marsh. There is a falconry centre close to the village ...
, London, 1926. (With Yvonne Gregory and G. Montague Ellwood) *''The beauty of the female form'', Routledge, London, 1934. (With Yvonne Gregory) *''Sun bathers: A companion volume to "The Beauty Of The Female Form": 48 photographic studies'',
Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...
, London, 1935. (With Yvonne Gregory) *''Curves and contrast of the human figure'', Bodley Head, London, 1936. (With Yvonne Gregory) *''Eve in the sunlight'', Hutchinson, 1937. (With Yvonne Gregory) *''A Study of sunlight and shadow on the female form for artists and art students '',
Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English book publishing imprint of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1887 by John Lane and Elkin Mathews, The Bodley Head existed as an independent entity or as part of multiple consortia until it was acquired by Random ...
, London, 1939. (With Yvonne Gregory)


Roses

*''Collins guide to roses'', Collins, London, 1956. *''The world of roses'', Harrap, 1962. *''Roses: The cultivation of the rose'', National Rose Society, 1967. *''The rose annual''. Multiple editions. (Editor)


See also

*
Dorothy Wilding Dorothy Frances Edith Wilding (10 January 1893 – 9 February 1976) was an English professional portrait photographer from Gloucester, who established successful studios in both London and New York. She is known for her portraits of the Britis ...


References


Further reading

*Interview with Bertram Park, "Photographing Royalty for Stamps", ''
Stamp Collecting Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth ...
'', Vol. XLVIII, No. 20, 7 August 1937, pp. 654–656.


External links

*
Mander and Mitchenson Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Bertram 1883 births 1972 deaths Photographers from Kent British non-fiction writers English horticulturists Officers of the Order of the British Empire British stamp designers 20th-century British non-fiction writers