Lena Connell

Adelina Beatrice "Lena" Connell became Beatrice Cundy (27 July 1875 – 1949) was a British suffragette and a well known photographer whose work is held in the British National Portrait Gallery. She was known professionally as Lena Connell and as Beatrice Cundy.

Lena Connell
Born27 July 1875
London
Died1949
NationalityUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Other namesBeatrice Cundy
Occupationportrait photographer
Spouse(s)Cundy

Life

Connell was born in London in 1875 to Frederic and Catherine Connell. Her father (and his) had built high class watches known as chronometers, but her father's interest moved to photography before he became a salesperson. The photography business made his daughters Dora and Alina into photographer's assistants and Adelina/Lena's career path was decided.[1]

Cicely Hamilton was a leading campaigner and they worked together. Photo by Connell from the 1910s

Connell started her own photography business and employed female staff.[2] She was said to be the first woman photographer to take pictures of male subjects.[3]

Connell took pictures of leading members of the Women's Freedom League as well as Emmeline Pankhurst and other suffrage leaders.[1] She was intrigued by the suffrage cause after she was employed to take pictures of the suffragette Gladice Keevil after she was released from prison. Photographs of leading suffragettes were made into postcards and copies were sold to supporters as a method of raising funds.[1] Connell was a member of the WSPU in Hampstead and she collaborated with Cicely Hamilton on Edith Craig's production of her iconic play "A Pageant of Women" by the Pioneer Players. Connell's resulting portraits of the leading producers and players, Ellen Terry, Christopher St John, Hamilton and Craig, were exhibited at the Royal Photographic Society in 1910/1911.[2]

In 1911 Connell was advertising for an assistant in "The Suffragette" magazine to work at her studio in St John's Wood.[4] In 1922 Connell closed her shop and decided to specialise in "at-home" photography using her married name of Beatrice Cundy.[5]

Death and legacy

Connell died in 1949.[6] Copies of her photographs are held in the National Portrait Gallery in London.[7]

References
  1. Crawford, Elizabeth (2019). Art and Suffrage Biographical Dictionary of Suffrage Artists. Francis Boutle. ISBN 9781999903732.
  2. Cockin, Katharine (2017-01-26). Edith Craig and the Theatres of Art. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4725-7063-5.
  3. Galinou, Mireille (2010). Cottages and Villas: The Birth of the Garden Suburb. Yale University Press. p. 324. ISBN 978-0-300-16726-9.
  4. Neale, Shirley (2015-01-19). "Mrs Beatrice Cundy, née Adelin Beatrice Connell, 1875–1949". History of Photography. 25: 61–67. doi:10.1080/03087298.2001.10443437.
  5. The British Journal of Photography. 69. H. Greenwood. 1922. p. 158.
  6. "Ontdek fotograaf Lena Connell". rkd.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-01-13.
  7. "Lena Connell (later Beatrice Cundy) - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.