Margareta "Rita" Weir Martin (1875–1958) was an English photographer, considered "one of the best British photographers of her time". Martin took portraits of many suffragists and was a suffragist herself.

Early life

Margareta Weir Martin was born in 1875 in Ireland.

Career

In 1897 Martin became a photographer working for her elder sister

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. Lallie Charles was born ...

, a society photographer. Charles' studio was called "The Nook", 1 Titchfield Road, Regent's Park, London. In 1906 she opened her own studio at 27 Baker Street. She specialized in portraits in pale colours against a pure white background. Her main subjects were actresses ( Winifred Barnes,

Lily Elsie Elsie Cotton (''née'' Hodder, 8 April 1886 – 16 December 1962), known professionally as Lily Elsie, was an English actress and singer during the Edwardian era. She was best known for her starring role in the London premiere of Franz Lehár's ...

, Julia James,

Lily Brayton Elizabeth "Lily" Brayton (23 June 1876 – 30 April 1953) was an English actress and singer, known for her performances in Shakespeare plays and for her nearly 2,000 performances in the First World War hit musical ''Chu Chin Chow''. Early life ...

and

Violet Vanbrugh Violet Augusta Mary Bourchier, Barnes (11 June 1867 – 11 November 1942), known professionally as Violet Vanbrugh, was an English actress with a career that spanned more than fifty years. Vanbrugh was from a family with theatrical connections ...

) and children (

Gladys Cooper Dame Gladys Constance Cooper (18 December 1888 – 17 November 1971) was an English actress, theatrical manager and producer, whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television. Beginning as a teenager in Edwardian musica ...

's two children). She influenced many other photographers, especially in child portraits, and her influence can be seen in many of the popular French and German photographs of children taken at the beginning of the 20th century. She was inspired by Alice Hughes; other pioneer women photographers of her time are: Christina Broom, Kate Pragnell and

Lizzie Caswall Smith Lizzie Caswall Smith (1870–1958) was an early 20th-century British photographer who specialised in society and celebrity studio portraits, often used for postcards. She was associated with the Women's Suffrage movement and photographed m ...

. Talking about her,

Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as costume designer and set designer for stage and screen. His accolades ...

said: "Rita Martin, and the pale terracotta loveliness of her photographs are part and parcel of this period. Rita Martin and her sister, Lallie Charles, the rival photographer, posed their sitters in a soft conservatory-looking light, making all hair deliriously blonde". A 1910 review by ''

The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'' said "Rita Martin deserves to be singled out for praise. Perhaps a time will come when there will be annual exhibitions of the best achievements of professional photographers, as there is now for professional painters, and when that time comes the work of these artists will be highly valued by the critics. In the art of the camera as it concerns the taking of children I should put sympathy first— sympathy even before technical skill in posing and lighting." Martin took portraits of many suffragists, like

Rosamund Massy Rosamund Nora Massy (1870–1947) was an English suffragette and a "fierce woman". She was one of three women who organised the Emmeline and Christabel Pankhurst Memorial, and was awarded the Hunger Strike Medal. Family Rosamund Massy was born ...

, and was a suffragist herself. Martin was also a painter of miniatures.

Legacy

A few negatives by Rita Martin and Lallie Charles are preserved at the National Portrait Gallery, donated by their niece Lallie Charles Martin in 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Rita 1875 births 1958 deaths Photographers from London English suffragists English women photographers 20th-century English photographers 20th-century British women photographers 20th-century English women 20th-century English people