John Hedgecoe (24 March 1932 – 3 June 2010)
was a British photographer and author of over 30 books on photography.
He established the photography department in 1965 at the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...
, where he was Professor from 1975 to 1994 and Professor Emeritus until his death.
He was also Pro-Rector of the college from 1981 to 1994.
His photographs appear in permanent collections at the New York
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
and London's
National Portrait Gallery.
Early life
Hedgecoe was born in
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
,
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
John Hedgecoe received his first camera from his father at the age of 14. Hedgecoe was evacuated during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. They settled in Gulval, a village near
Penzance
Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
where he attended the local school.
Education
Hedgecoe attended
Guildford School of Art
Guildford School of Art was formed in 1856 as Guildford Working Men's Institution and was one of several schools of art run by Surrey County Council. After several mergers with tertiary art institutions it became part of the University for the ...
(now
University for the Creative Arts
The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in the south of England.
It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Inst ...
), while also completing his National Service with the RAF. During his service with the RAF, Hedgecoe experimented with aerial photographic surveys of bomb damage from the war.
In 1957, he started work as a staff photographer at ''
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
'' magazine, working there until 1972.
Creative work
In the main, Hedgecoe's works are focused on artists and writers. He said: "A good portrait photograph should try to tell us something about the subject's character, for the portrait is a visual biography in a sense." One of Hedgecoe's books was a ''Henry Spencer Moore'', published in 1968. Most photographs by John Hedgecoe are stored at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
The Sainsbury Centre is an art gallery and museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. The building, which contains a collection of world art, was one of the first major public buildings to be designed by th ...
in Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
.
Postage stamps
Hedgecoe's profile shot of the Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
, taken by him in June 1967, was used by Arnold Machin
Arnold Machin OBE, R.A., FRSS (; 30 September 1911 – 9 March 1999) was a British artist, sculptor, and coin and postage stamp designer.
Life
Machin was born Stoke-on-Trent in 1911. He started work at the age of 14 as an apprentice china pai ...
to make a plaster version. Once the plaster version was produced, Hedgecoe photographed it for the stamp image. It is one of the most-reproduced images, with over 200 billion copies sold.
Personal life
In 1960, Hedgecoe married Julia Mardon. The couple had three children: Sebastian, Dolly and Auberon.[
]
Publications
* ''Manual of Photography'' Focal Press
Focal Press is a publisher of creative and applied media books and it is an imprint of Routledge/Taylor & Francis.
Company history
The firm was founded in London in 1938 by Andor Kraszna-Krausz, a Hungarian photographer who migrated to England ...
, 1977,
* ''The Art of Colour Photography'' Mitchell Beazley for Marks and Spencer, 1984
* ''John Hedgecoe's Nude Photography'' Simon Schuster, 1984
* ''John Hedgecoe's Practical Landscape Photography'' Ebury Press
Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Century ...
, 1988
* ''The Photographer’s Handbook'' Alfred A. Knopf, 1992,
*John Hedgecoe's Camcorder Basics Collins & Brown Limited 1995,
* ''Breakfast with Dolly'', novel (1996)
* ''John Hedgecoe's 35mm Photography'' Collins & Brown, 1999,
* ''The New Manual of Photography'' DK Publishing
Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages.
It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media co ...
, 2003
* ''John Hedgecoe's Complete Guide to Black White Photography'' Sterling, 2005,
* ''How to Take Great Photographs'' Collins & Brown, 2005,
* ''The Art of Digital Photography'' Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages.
It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media co ...
, 2009,
* ''John Hedgecoe's Advanced Photography'' Mitchell Beazley
Mitchell Beazley Publishers Limited is a British book publisher which is particularly specialised in atlases, reference books, natural history books, cook books, garden books and wine books.
History
The London-based company Mitchell Beazley was ...
, 1982,
References
1932 births
2010 deaths
Photographers from Cornwall
British non-fiction writers
Writers on photographic techniques
Academics of the Royal College of Art
British male writers
Male non-fiction writers
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