Gordon Anthony (23 December 1902 – 21 July 1989) was a British photographer, known particularly for his photographs of ballet and theatre in Britain.

Biography

He was born James Gordon Dawson Stannus in

Wicklow, Ireland Wicklow ( ; , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; ) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located on the east of Ireland, south of Dublin. According to the 2022 census, it had a population of 12,957 people. The town is t ...

on 23 December 1902. Anthony started working in photography in 1926, making images of the students at his sister's ballet school in London.Finding Aid for the Gordon Anthony Ballet and Theatrical Photograph Albums, 1935-1946
Online Archive of California. UCLA Special Collections. 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2012. In 1933 he became the portrait photographer to the

Shakespeare Memorial Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a Grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakes ...

, Stratford. His photographs helped to make the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded ...

known across the world in the 1930s. In 1948, he published the first ever book of colour photography in Great Britain, ''Studies of Dancers''. A retrospective exhibition of his work, ''Shadowlands'', was held at the National Portrait Gallery in 1988.

Family

His sister, Dame

Ninette de Valois Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russ ...

, was a ballet dancer in

Diaghilev Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev ( ; rus, Серге́й Па́влович Дя́гилев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪdʑ ˈdʲæɡʲɪlʲɪf; 19 August 1929), also known as Serge Diaghilev, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario a ...

's company. She later directed both the

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a London performing arts venue, located in Rosebery Avenue, Islington. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site. Sadler's Wells grew out of a late 17th-century pleasure garden and was opened as a theatre buil ...

and the Royal Ballet.

Works

Anthony's photographs are held in major collection including the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

Victoria and Albert Museum: Gordon Anthony
Retrieved 17 November 2012. and the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

.National Portrait Gallery: Gordon Anthony
Retrieved 17 November 2012. Among his portraits are the economist

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist and philosopher whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originall ...

, the actors

Alec Guinness Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. In the BFI, British Film Institute listing of 1999 of BFI Top 100 British films, the 100 most important British films of the 20th century ...

Peggy Ashcroft Dame Edith Margaret Emily "Peggy" Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991) was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. Born to a comfortable middle-class family, Ashcroft was determined from an early age to become ...

and

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

, and critic

Sacheverell Sitwell Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, (; 15 November 1897 – 1 October 1988) was an English writer, particularly on baroque architecture, and an art and music critic. Sitwell produced some 50 volumes of poetry and some 50 works o ...

, theatre director

Lilian Baylis Lilian Mary Baylis (9 May 187425 November 1937) was an English theatrical producer and manager. She managed the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells theatres in London and ran an opera company, which became the English National Opera (ENO); a theatre co ...

, sculptor

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American and British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1910. Early in his ...

's wife

Kathleen Garman Kathleen Esther Garman, Lady Epstein (15 May 1901 – August 1979) was the third of the seven Garman sisters, who were high-profile members of artistic circles in mid-20th century London, renowned for their beauty and scandalous behaviour. She ...

and dancers

Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE ( Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn (), was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with th ...

and

Alicia Markova Dame Alicia Markova Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE (1 December 1910 – 2 December 2004) was a British ballerina and a Choreography (dance), choreographer, director and teacher of classical ballet. Most noted for her ...

. ; Books * Ballet: Camera Studies (Geoffrey Bles, 1939) * Studies of Dancers (1948) * Margot Fonteyn (1950) * Alicia Markova (1951) * A Camera at the Ballet: Pioneer Dancers of the Royal Ballet (1975)

References

External links

Victoria and Albert Museum: Gordon Anthony
(17 of his photographs)
National Portrait Gallery: Gordon Anthony
(69 of his photographs)
Corbis Images: Gordon Anthony
(29 of his photographs) {{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Gordon 1902 births 1989 deaths British portrait photographers Theatrical photographers People from County Wicklow