Helen Muspratt

Helen Margaret Muspratt (13 May 1907 – 29 July 2001) was a British photographer.[1]

Helen Muspratt
Born13 May 1907 
Chennai (India) 
Died29 July 2001  (aged 94)
Brighton 
OccupationPhotographer 
Spouse(s)John Clement Dix Dunman 

Early life and education

Born in Madras, India, to British Army Lieutenant-Colonel Vivian Edward Muspratt and his wife, Lily May, née Hope.[2] 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 laborers in the Rhondda valley in south Wales. In 1937, she opened a second Ramsey & Muspratt studio in Cornmarket Street, Oxford.[3] The Oxford premises of Ramsey & Muspratt had been a studio opened by Walter Benington on behalf of Elliott & Fry.[4][5] 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.[6][3] 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;[7] in 1986, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary series on women photographers that featured Muspratt;[8] she also appeared in the BBC series Women of Our Century in 1990.[2]

Personal life

In 1937, she married Communist Party organiser Jack Dunman.

Death

Muspratt died on 29 July 2001 in Brighton, England.[1]

Collections

Muspratt's work is held in the following permanent collection:

Exhibitions

References
  1. Williams, Val (2 August 2001). "Helen Muspratt". The Independent. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  2. Neale, Shirley (8 January 2009). Musgrave, Helen Margaret (1907–2001). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/76106. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  3. "Helen Muspratt: The woman who photographed the Cambridge spies". The Independent. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  4. "Walter Bennington Biography". National Portrait Gallery. Archived from the original on 22 February 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
  5. Pioneering photographer Helen Muspratt celebrated; Jesus College, Oxford
  6. Marsh, Jan (1 August 2001). "Obituary: Helen Muspratt". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  7. Williams, Val (1986). The Other Observers: Women Photographers in Britain-1900 to the present. London: Virago. ISBN 1853814202.
  8. "Helen Muspratt: Five Women Photographers" (A Broadside Production for Channel 4 (UK) Television). Vimeo. October–November 1986.
  9. "Helen Muspratt – Person – National Portrait Gallery". Npg.org.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  10. "Helen Muspratt: Photographer". Pallant House Gallery. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  11. "Helen Muspratt Photographer". Visit the Bodleian Libraries. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
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