{{Short description|British photographer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{infobox person/Wikidata | fetchwikidata=ALL| onlysourced=yes|image = Helen_Muspratt.jpg}}

'''Helen Margaret Muspratt''' (13 May 1907 – 29 July 2001) was a British photographer.<ref name="independent-2014">{{cite web|first1=Val|last1=Williams|authorlink=Val Williams|accessdate=21 June 2020|title=Helen Muspratt|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/helen-muspratt-9270464.html|date=2 August 2001|website=The Independent}}</ref>

==Early life and education==

Born in Madras, India, to British Army Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian Edward Muspratt and his wife, Lily May, née Hope.<ref name="Neale">{{cite ODNB|last1=Neale|first1=Shirley|title=Musgrave, Helen Margaret (1907–2001)|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/76106|date=8 January 2009|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-76106|access-date=30 January 2018}}</ref> She studied photography at Regent Street Polytechnic.

==Photography career==

Muspratt opened a photography studio in Swanage, Dorset in 1929. In 1932, she met Lettice Ramsey, and together they opened the Ramsey & Muspratt studio in Cambridge.

Early in her career, Muspratt pursued both portraiture (especially of children) and experimental work; her solarization studies were influenced by the American artist Man Ray. Her documentary work included travel to the Soviet Union in 1936 to photograph farmers and villagers along the Volga; upon her return, she joined the Communist Party in Britain. Commissioned by the Left Book Club in 1937, she photographed miners and unemployed labourers in the Rhondda valley in south Wales. In 1937, she opened a second Ramsey & Muspratt studio in Cornmarket Street, Oxford.<ref name="obit-independent">{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/helen-muspratt-the-woman-who-photographed-the-cambridge-spies-a6925736.html|title=Helen Muspratt: The woman who photographed the Cambridge spies|date=1 March 2016|newspaper=The Independent|access-date=9 November 2017|language=en-GB}}</ref> The Oxford premises of Ramsey & Muspratt had been a studio opened by Walter Benington on behalf of Elliott &amp; Fry.<ref>{{cite web|title=Walter Bennington Biography|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2007/walter-benington-pictorial-portaits/biography|website=National Portrait Gallery|accessdate=22 February 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222163301/https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2007/walter-benington-pictorial-portaits/biography|archivedate=22 February 2018}}</ref><ref>[https://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/about-jesus-college/news/2020/october/pioneering-photographer-helen-muspratt-celebrated Pioneering photographer Helen Muspratt celebrated] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101100445/https://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/about-jesus-college/news/2020/october/pioneering-photographer-helen-muspratt-celebrated |date=1 November 2020 }}; Jesus College, Oxford</ref> In Oxford, portraiture was the mainstay of her commercial work until her retirement in the 1970s.

In 1976, she held a retrospective exhibition of her work.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/aug/11/guardianobituaries|title=Obituary: Helen Muspratt|last=Marsh|first=Jan|date=1 August 2001|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=9 November 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="obit-independent"/> Wider recognition came with the 1986–87 touring exhibition ''Women's Photography in Britain'' and the volume ''The Other Observers: Women Photographers in Britain-1900 to the present'';<ref>{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Val|title=The Other Observers: Women Photographers in Britain-1900 to the present|date=1986|publisher=Virago|location=London|isbn=1853814202}}</ref> in 1986, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary series on women photographers that featured Muspratt;<ref>{{cite web|title=Helen Muspratt: Five Women Photographers|url=https://vimeo.com/193359374|website=Vimeo|format=A Broadside Production for Channel 4 (UK) Television|date=Oct–Nov 1986}}</ref> she also appeared in the BBC series ''Women of Our Century'' in 1990.<ref name="Neale"/>

==Personal life==

In 1937, she married Communist Party organiser Jack Dunman.

==Death==

Muspratt died on 29 July 2001 in Brighton, England.<ref name="independent-2014"/>

==Collections==

Muspratt's work is held in the following permanent collection: *National Portrait Gallery, London holds fifteen of Muspratt's portrait photographs<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp08150/helen-muspratt|title=Helen Muspratt – Person – National Portrait Gallery|website=Npg.org.uk|language=en|access-date=9 November 2017}}</ref>

==Exhibitions==

*Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, 2016<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pallant.org.uk/whats-on/helen-muspratt-photographer/|title=Helen Muspratt: Photographer|website=Pallant House Gallery|language=en-GB|access-date=7 February 2020}}</ref> *Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, 2020, to mark the donation of Muspratt's archive to the Libraries<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/helen-muspratt-photographer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202164541/https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/helen-muspratt-photographer |archive-date=2 February 2021|title=Helen Muspratt Photographer|website=Visit the Bodleian Libraries|language=en-GB|access-date=20 August 2020}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links==

*https://www.helenmuspratt-photographer.com *{{cite web|url=https://blog.oup.com/2017/05/photographer-helen-muspratt-daughter/|title=Photographer Helen Muspratt through the eyes of her daughter – OUPblog|date=14 May 2017|website=Blog.oup.com|accessdate=6 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130020614/https://blog.oup.com/2017/05/photographer-helen-muspratt-daughter/|archive-date=30 January 2018}} *{{cite web|url=https://www.artrabbit.com/events/helen-muspratt-photographer|title=Helen Muspratt: Photographer – Exhibition at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester|website=ArtRabbit.com|accessdate=6 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130020144/http://pallant.org.uk/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/2016/helen-muspratt-photographer|archive-date=30 January 2018}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.rps.org/regions-and-chapters/regions/southern/blogs/2016/april/helen-muspratt-photographer|title=Helen Muspratt: Photographer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180130020348/http://www.rps.org/regions-and-chapters/regions/southern/blogs/2016/april/helen-muspratt-photographer|archive-date=30 January 2018|website=Rps.org|accessdate=6 December 2017}} *[http://www.loftyimages.co.uk/gallery_408953.html Ramsey & Muspratt Gallery] at Peter Lofts, successor to Ramsey & Muspratt in Post Office Terrace, Cambridge (1980).

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Muspratt, Helen}} Category:1907 births Category:2001 deaths Category:20th-century British photographers Category:English women photographers Category:People from Chennai Category:Alumni of the University of Westminster Category:Photographers from Dorset Category:20th-century British women photographers Category:Communist Party of Great Britain members Category:20th-century English women Category:20th-century English people