Jane Bown

{{Short description|English photographer (1925–2014)}} {{Use British English|date=April 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}}  [[File:Bown, Welles.gif|thumb|180px|Orson Welles, 1951]] [[File:Bown, Lennon.gif|thumb|180px|John Lennon, 1963]] '''Jane Hope Bown''' CBE (13 March 1925 – 21 December 2014) was an English photographer who worked for ''The Observer'' newspaper from 1949. Her portraits, primarily photographed in black and white and using available light, received widespread critical acclaim and her work has been described by Lord Snowdon as "a kind of English Cartier-Bresson."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/interactive/2009/oct/22/jane-bown-photography|title=The complete Jane Bown: a lifetime in photographs|date=22 October 2009|work=The Guardian|accessdate=24 April 2014}}</ref><ref name =Telegraph/>

==Life and work== Bown was born in Eastnor, Herefordshire on 13 March 1925. She described her childhood as happy, brought up in Dorset by women whom she believed to be her aunts. Bown said she was upset to realise, at the age of twelve, that one of them was her mother and her birth was illegitimate. This discovery precipitated her into delinquent behaviour in her adolescence, and acting coldly towards her mother.<ref name =guardian/> Her father had been the over sixty year old Charles Wentworth Bell who had employed her mother as a nurse.<ref>{{Citation|last=Dodd|first=Luke|title=Bown, Jane Hope (1925–2014), photographer|date=2018-02-15|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.108187|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.108187|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8|access-date=2021-06-18|url-access=subscription}}</ref> She first worked as a chart corrector with the WRNS, which included a role in plotting the D-Day invasion, and this employment entitled her to an education grant.<ref name =guardian/> She then studied photography at Guildford School of Art under Ifor Thomas.<ref name =Telegraph/><ref name =guardian/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ucaarchives.wordpress.com/2013/07/05/explore-your-archive-photography-at-guildford-school-of-art-1950s/|title=Explore Your Archive: Photography at Guildford School of Art|website=UCA Archives|access-date=2016-03-29}}</ref>

Bown began her career as a wedding portrait photographer until 1951, when Thomas put her in touch with Mechthild Nawiasky, a picture editor at ''The Observer''. Nawiasky showed her portfolio to editor David Astor who was impressed and immediately commissioned her to photograph the philosopher Bertrand Russell.<ref name =Telegraph>{{cite news| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11306963/Jane-Bown-obituary.html| title = Jane Bown – obituary| date = 21 December 2014| accessdate = 24 December 2014| publisher = Telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>

Bown worked primarily in black-and-white and preferred to use available light. Until the early 1960s, she worked primarily with a Rolleiflex camera. Subsequently, Bown used a 35 mm Pentax SLR, before settling on the Olympus OM-1 camera, often using an 85 mm lens.<ref name =Telegraph/><ref name =guardian/> She photographed hundreds of subjects, including Orson Welles, Samuel Beckett, Sir John Betjeman, Woody Allen, Cilla Black, Quentin Crisp, P. J. Harvey, John Lennon, Truman Capote, John Peel, the gangster Charlie Richardson, Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer, Jarvis Cocker, Björk, Jayne Mansfield, Diana Dors, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold, Evelyn Waugh, Brassai and Margaret Thatcher. She took Queen Elizabeth II's eightieth birthday portrait.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/60photos/MicroObject.asp?row=10&themeid=2964&item=10| title = Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, February 2006| author = Bown, Jane| accessdate = 24 April 2014| publisher = royalcollection.org.uk}}</ref>

Bown's extensive photojournalism output includes series on Hop Pickers, evictions of Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp, Butlin's holiday resort, the British Seaside, and in 2002, the Glastonbury festival. Her social documentary and photojournalism was mostly unseen before the release of her book ''Unknown Bown 1947–1967'' (2007).

In 2007, her work from Greenham Common was selected by Val Williams and Susan Bright as part of ''How We Are: Photographing Britain'', the first major survey of photography to be held at Tate Britain.

A documentary about Bown, ''Looking For Light'' (2014), directed by Luke Dodd and Michael Whyte, features Bown conversing about her life and interviews those she photographed and worked with, including Edna O'Brien, Lynn Barber and Richard Ashcroft.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.hotpropertyfilms.com/films/looking-for-light| title = Looking For Light| accessdate = 23 April 2014 | publisher = Hot Property Films}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/2014/04/Looking_for_light_review| title = Inconspicuous presence behind the camera| date = 23 April 2014| accessdate = 24 April 2014| publisher = fhefword.org.uk}}</ref>

In June 2014, Bown was awarded an honorary degree from the University for the Creative Arts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/news/2014/june/three-new-honorary-graduates-announced#.VK_8siusXpU|title=UCA | University for the Creative Arts|access-date=9 January 2015|archive-date=9 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109221357/http://www.ucreative.ac.uk/news/2014/june/three-new-honorary-graduates-announced#.VK_8siusXpU|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Private life== In 1954, Bown married the fashion retail executive Martin Moss.<ref name =Telegraph/> The couple had three children, Matthew, Louisa, and Hugo. Moss pre-deceased her in 2007.<ref name =Telegraph/><ref name =guardian>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/dec/21/jane-bown|title=Jane Bown obituary| author = Dodd, Luke|date=21 December 2014|work=The Guardian|accessdate=22 December 2014}}</ref>

On 21 December 2014, Bown died at the age of 89.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/dec/21/observer-photographer-jane-bown-dies-age-89|title=Revered Observer photographer Jane Bown dies aged 89|date=21 December 2014|work=The Guardian|accessdate=21 December 2014}}</ref> Paying tribute to her work, Lord Snowdon described her as "a kind of English Cartier-Bresson" who produced "photography at its best. She doesn't rely on tricks or gimmicks, just simple, honest recording, but with a shrewd and intellectual eye."<ref name =Telegraph/>

==Awards== *1985: Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2006/apr/02/featuresreview.review| title = Happy birthday, ma'am (and to you too, Jane)| author = Dodd, Luke | date = 2 April 2006| accessdate = 24 December 2014| publisher = The Observer}}</ref> *1995: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07814| title = Jane Bown| accessdate = 24 April 2014| publisher = National Portrait Gallery}}</ref> *2000: Honorary Fellowship of The Royal Photographic Society<ref name =rps>{{cite web | url = http://www.rps.org/about/awards/history-and-recipients/honorary-fellowships | title = RPS Honorary Fellowships | accessdate = 9 January 2017 | publisher = Royal Photographic Society | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170127135803/http://www.rps.org/about/awards/history-and-recipients/honorary-fellowships | archive-date = 27 January 2017 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

==Exhibitions== *''The Gentle Eye'', National Portrait Gallery, London, 1980–1981{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} *''Rock 1963–2003'', September–October 2003, ''The Guardian'' Newsroom, London<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/newsroom/story/0,11718,1030370,00.html | accessdate = 24 December 2014 | newspaper = The Guardian | title = Rock, an exhibition of Jane Bown's rock and pop portraits (1963–2003) }}</ref> *'' Jane Bown'', February–April 2005, National Portrait Gallery, London<ref>{{cite web |title=Jane Bown |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2005/jane-bown |website=National Portrait Gallery |accessdate=20 March 2020}}</ref> *''Unknown Bown 1947–1967'', Guardian Newsroom, London, 2007–2008{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} *''How We Are: Photographing Britain,'' Tate Britain, 2007. With others. Included Bown's work from Greenham Common.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}} *''Jane Bown: Exposures'', December 2009 – April 2010, National Portrait Gallery, London<ref>{{cite web |title=Jane Bown |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2009/jane-bown |website=National Portrait Gallery |accessdate=20 March 2020}}</ref> *''Jane Bown: Play Shadow'', November 2025 – April 2026, Newlands House Gallery, Petworth<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.tickettailor.com/events/newlandshousegallery/1741446|title=Jane Bown: Play Shadow | publisher=Newlands House Gallery | access-date=10 March 2026}}</ref>

==Publications== * ''The Gentle Eye'' (1980) * ''Women of Consequence'' (1986) * ''Men of Consequence'' (1987) * ''The Singular Cat'' (1988) * ''Pillars of the Church'' (1991) * ''Observer'' (1996) * ''Faces: The Creative Process Behind Great Portraits'' (2000) * ''Rock 1963–2003'' (2003) * ''Unknown Bown 1947–1967'' (2007) * ''Exposures'' (2009) * ''A Lifetime of Looking'' (2015) * ''Jane Bown: Cats'' (2016)<ref>{{cite news|last=Bromwich|first=Kathryn|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/oct/01/cat-snaps-jane-bowns-feline-photographs-cats|title=Cat snap: Jane Bown's feline photographs|work=The Observer|date=1 October 2016|accessdate=1 October 2016}}</ref>

==Collections== Bown's work is held in the following permanent collections: * Palace of Westminster, London<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.parliament.uk/documents/foi/2011-FOI-List-of-artworks-F11-426.pdf| title = House of Commons – list of works of art with prices| accessdate = 24 December 2014 | publisher = parliament.uk}}</ref> * National Portrait Gallery, London<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp07814&role=art | title = Jane Bown (photographer), National Portrait Gallery| accessdate = 24 December 2014| publisher = National Portrait Gallery}}</ref> * Falmouth Art Gallery<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.falmouthartgallery.com/Collection/2010.19 | title = Jane Bown (photographer), Falmouth Art Gallery| accessdate = 24 December 2014| publisher = Falmouth Art Gallery}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==General references== * [http://www.tate.org.uk/about/pressoffice/pressreleases/2007/8986.htm Tate Britain, 'How We Are: Photographing Britain' Press Release] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080111081053/http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/howweare/rooms/room5.htm Tate Britain, 'How We Are: Photographing Britain', Guide to Room 5 – 'The Urge to Document 1970–1990' which included work on the 1984 Greenham Common evictions by Jane Bown]

==External links== * [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/video/2009/oct/22/jane-bown-exposure-photography Video about her life and work] * [https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2000/apr/20/1 Biography at The Observer] * [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp07814 Portraits of and by Jane Bown] in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London * [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/dec/21/jane-bown-a-life-in-photography-in-pictures Jane Bown: A life in photography. Observer website] * [http://www.professionalphotographer.co.uk/Legends/Interviews/Jane-Bown-interview Audio interview with Jane Bown at Professional Photographer magazine]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bown, Jane:}} Category:1925 births Category:2014 deaths Category:Photographers from Dorset Category:Photographers from Herefordshire Category:The Observer photojournalists Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:English women photographers Category:Monochrome photography Category:British women photojournalists