# Helen Muspratt
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{{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.[{{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}}]
==Early life and education==
Born in [Madras](/source/Madras), India, to British Army Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian Edward Muspratt and his wife, Lily May, née Hope.[{{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}}] She studied photography at [Regent Street Polytechnic](/source/Regent_Street_Polytechnic).
==Photography career==
Muspratt opened a photography studio in Swanage, Dorset in 1929. In 1932, she met [Lettice Ramsey](/source/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](/source/Solarization_(photography)) studies were influenced by the American artist [Man Ray](/source/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](/source/Left_Book_Club) in 1937, she photographed miners and unemployed labourers in the [Rhondda valley](/source/Rhondda_valley) in south Wales. In 1937, she opened a second Ramsey & Muspratt studio in Cornmarket Street, Oxford.[{{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](/source/The_Independent)|access-date=9 November 2017|language=en-GB}}] The Oxford premises of Ramsey & Muspratt had been a studio opened by [Walter Benington](/source/Walter_Benington) on behalf of [Elliott & Fry](/source/Elliott_%26amp%3B_Fry).[{{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}}][[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] 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.[{{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](/source/The_Guardian)|access-date=9 November 2017|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}][{{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}}] in 1986, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary series on women photographers that featured Muspratt;[{{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}}] she also appeared in the BBC series ''Women of Our Century'' in 1990.[{{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}}]
==Exhibitions==
*[Pallant House Gallery](/source/Pallant_House_Gallery), Chichester, 2016[{{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}}]
*[Bodleian Libraries](/source/Bodleian_Libraries), Oxford, 2020, to mark the donation of Muspratt's archive to the Libraries[{{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}}]
==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).
{{authority control}}
{{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
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Helen Muspratt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Muspratt) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Muspratt?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.