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Norman Parkinson

(1913 - 1990) 

Norman Parkinson was born Ronald William Parkinson Smith in Roehampton, London on April 21, 1913. Parkinson studied at the Westminister School in London from 1927 to 1931.In 1931, Parkinson worked as an apprentice to the court photographers Speaight and Sons Ltd., located in Bond Street.

Parkinson learned the basics of portrait photography during this apprenticeship which lasted for two years and ended in 1933.

In 1934, Parkinson opened his own studio in London in partnership with Norman Kibblewhite whom he had met at the firm of Speaight & Son. Parkinson’s early work specialized in photographs of debutantes. Some of his work in the 1930s, especially his study of Welsh mining families during the Depression, and his photographs for The Bystander, demonstrate a keen eye for reportage. Parkinson continued with his studio until the outbreak of World War II.

Parkinson was noted for taking his sitters out of the studio and encouraging them to move naturally, resulting in elegant portraits captured in contrastingly grimy or working-class environments. By the end of the 1930s, Parkinson had become a master at suggesting movement in a still photograph. His fashion work of this time marks a turning point in the genre. Sittings with contemporary figures including the Sitwells, Vaughan Williams and Kathleen Ferrier for publications such as The Bystander, Life, and Look led to a close relationship with Conde Nast from the 1940s to the late 1960s.

From 1935 to 1940, he worked for the British edition of Harper’s Bazaar. He primarily started doing on-location shots. He then was asked by Harper’s to shoot at subjects’ homes in New York City, as well as scenic locations in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. In the 1930s, Parkinson also began photographing for advertisements

From 1937 to 1939, Parkinson did a series of photographic essays for the British Armed Services Recruitment drive and from 1940-1945, Parkinson did reconnaissance photography over France for the Royal Air Force. In 1945, Norman Parkinson married the actress and model Wenda Rogerson with she had a son called Simon.

A portrait and fashion photographer for American and British Vogue from 1945 to 1960, Parkinson pioneered the outdoor use of color photography with the then difficult to source early 35 mm stock, which he first used for landmark fashion imagery for the magazine. Many of his most celebrated images, such as a satin-clad model reclining against a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost in 1950, featured his wife Wenda Rogerson. Using very few colors, some of his pictures are virtually monochromatic, achieving stunning and often highly romantic effects. In 1952, Parkinson did his first advertising work. From 1960 to 1964, Parkinson was Associate Contributing Editor of Queen.