R.I.P Jane Bown – Shy & Gentle Photographer

  • Jane Bown, revered Observer photographer, dies age 89

    Her first commission for the Observer was a portrait of philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1949. From then, Bown photographed the great and the good, the rich and the poor, the ordinary and extraordinary with a compassionate and gentle eye.

    Jane Bown Gypsy child
    Gypsy Child, Kent, 1961. Photograph: Jane Bown for the Observer

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    Samuel Beckett
    Jane Bown died on Dec 21, 2014, one day before the anniversary of passing of Samuel Beckett who died on Dec 22, 1989.
    News just came in Billie Whitelaw died on Dec 22, 2014.

    The Coventry-born star, who was made a CBE in 1991, worked in close collaboration with playwright Samuel Beckett, who described her as a perfect actress.

  • Jane Bown as a girl
    (Jane Bown as a girl)
    “As you can see, I was a very contented and well-behaved child.” As before, she mentioned aunts and grandparents – but there was no mention of parents. Born out of wedlock in 1925, she was passed around maternal aunts, “it was like pass the parcel”, until one day when she was 12 she realised that Aunt Daisy, her favourite, was in fact her mother. Gradually, as she revealed more, I came to understand that this early trauma in some fundamental way provided the key to Jane’s work. She tentatively agreed to do an interview despite her reluctance to talk about herself and her work, not to mention her extreme discomfort at being filmed.

    Art & Design

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    Sinead O’Connor by Jane Bown

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    Bruce Chatwin

  • There is nothing there with Blair (Youtube)

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    Angelica Garnett
    via