Paul Tanqueray (14 January 1905 – September 1991) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographers As in other ...

Biography

Tanqueray was born in

Littlehampton Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort, and pleasure harbour, and the most populous civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south sout ...

, Sussex. Tanqueray first became interested in the

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

when he was at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

(1920-1923) and won the school's Photographic prize. Through his contact with an ex-pupil of the Tonbridge School

Hugh Cecil Hugh Cecil Saunders (14 December 1889 – March 1974 Brighton) was an English photographer of the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s, who practised under the professional name of Hugh Cecil. Born in Kingston upon Thames to Frederick Atkinson Saunders and ...

, Tanqueray began his photographic career as one of his pupils. Paul Tanqueray opened his first studio at 139, High Street, Kensington in 1925. As London's then youngest photographer, he was in a perfect position to document an era that had become obsessed with youth and modernism. During this time he employed an ex-

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

graduate as his assistant,

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 an Oscar–winning stage and costume designer for films and the t ...

, until Beaton was taken on by

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

. Five years of success in Kensington led to a move the more fashionable

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government build ...

at 8, Dover Street, near the Ritz Hotel. Tanqueray's photographs appeared regularly in the weekly Sketch and

Tatler ''Tatler'' is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications focusing on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper-middle class and upper class, and those interes ...

and most frequently inside and on the cover of Theatre World. His work, including

Ethel Mannin Ethel Edith Mannin (6 October 1900 – 5 December 1984) was a popular British novelist and travel writer, political activist and socialist. She was born in London. Life and career Mannin's father, Robert Mannin (d. 1948) was a member of the So ...

and his 1929 and 1933 a portraits of

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain intern ...

, was also selected and hung at the annual

London Salon of Photography London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

. During the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

Tanqueray worked mainly with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...

. After the war he re-opened his studio at 30, Thurloe Place in

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

, where his 1950s famous images included Elizabeth Seal, Dame Joan Plowright, Vanessa Redgrave and actress

Claire Bloom Patricia Claire Bloom (born 15 February 1931) is an English actress. She is known for leading roles in plays such as ''A Streetcar Named Desire,'' ''A Doll's House'', and '' Long Day's Journey into Night'', and has starred in nearly sixty film ...

. Tanqueray retired in 1965, and in two tranches donated his prints in 1975, and his negatives in 1983 to the National Portrait Gallery. Tanqueray died in September 1991.

References

External links

Paul Tanqueray
in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery
Notes from 2004 National Portrait Gallery exhibition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanqueray 1905 births 1991 deaths People from Littlehampton Photographers from Sussex People educated at Tonbridge School