Spotlight on Peter Rand: 10 photographs from the 1960s

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Room 32, National Portrait Gallery, London

From 17 April until 16 September 2012

Admission free

The first solo display of photographs by Peter Rand will open at the National Portrait Gallery on 17 April. The display of 10 portraits will celebrate the recent acquisition of works by the Vogue photographer into the National Portrait Gallery Collection.

The display focuses on key works from the 1960s, on show for the first time, including portraits of actors Fenella Fielding, Ian Holm, Anna Massey, Sarah Miles with her brother Christopher, Corin Redgrave, Peter Wyngarde, film director Mike Sarne and singer Dusty Springfield. A group portrait shows Harold Pinter with the cast of The Caretaker, and a young Richard Branson is pictured at the start of his entrepreneurial career (see image above).

Born in Dorset in 1940, Rand had a keen interest in photography and attended Ealing Art and Photographic College, before working as an assistant to Peter Peck at Woburn Studios (1958–9). In 1960 he joined the John French Studios, and in 1962 at the age of just 22, two of his photographs were featured on the cover of the September and December issues of British Vogue.

An editorial contract with Vogue followed, and Rand remained with the magazine until the 1970s, photographing the leading figures of the 1960s. He photographed many personalities, including Bob Dylan and the Kinks as well as models such as Grace Coddington and Jill Kennington. His portrait of Althea August was the first image of a black model to be published in Vogue, on 1 March 1963.

In 1971 Rand moved into his own studio in ShepherdMarket, Mayfair and worked for clients including British Airways and Max Factor. In 2009 one of Rand’s portraits of the Kinks was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery’s Beatles to Bowie exhibition and many of his fashion photographs are included in the recently published book The Day of the Peacock: Style for Men 1963–1973.

National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE. Opening hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am – 6pm (Gallery closure commences at 5.50pm) Late Opening: Thursday, Friday: 10am – 9pm (Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm) Nearest Underground: Leicester Square/Charing Cross

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