AT first glance, there seems little to connect the Hon Christian Methuen and Miss Rachel Johns, who respectively appeared on the Frontispiece of this magazine on May 1, 1915, and August 29, 1974. The common denominator, despite nearly 60 years’ difference, is that they each had their picture taken by the same photographer. Her name was Madame Yevonde. Theirs were the first and the last Yevonde portraits to be published in COUNTRY LIFE, bookending the extraordinary career of a pioneering photographer.
When the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) reopens this month after a three-year, £41 million refurbishment (‘A fresh face’, June 7), it will position Yevonde firmly centre stage with a major exhibition celebrating her life and work. Integral to this story is Yevonde’s long association with magazines such as COUNTRY LIFE, which gave her a platform and a vital source of income.
Born in Streatham, London SW16, on January 5, 1893, and christened Yevonde Philone Cumbers, she was the elder daughter of Frederick Cumbers, a manufacturer of printing inks. She grew up in a prosperous and liberal-minded middle-class household and her teenage years were dominated by her activism in support of the suffrage cause. She marched, lobbied and attended meetings; she even sold The Suffragette newspaper, but recoiled from the idea of breaking the law and the associated horrors of prison. Nevertheless, suffrage values fostered an independent streak and led her to believe there should be more to life than marriage and children.
Denne historien er fra June 21, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra June 21, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
