Lallie Charles | |
|---|---|
 Self-portrait | |
| Born | Charlotte Elizabeth Martin 1869 |
| Died | 1919 (aged 49–50) |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Photography |
Lallie Charles (née Charlotte Elizabeth Martin; 1869–1919), was an Irish photographer. Along with her sister Rita Martin, she was one of the most commercially successful women portraitists of the early 20th century.[1][2]
Lallie Charles was born in Ireland. In about 1895, she married London photographer Georges Garet-Charles, whom she divorced around 1902.[3] Her second husband was Herbert Carr.[4]
She was a society photographer. In 1896, she opened her first studio, The Nook, at 1 Titchfield Road, Regent's Park, London. In 1897, Rita Martin, her sister, went to work with her.[5] In 1906, Martin opened her own studio at 27 Baker Street and the two sisters became competitors.[6] The following year, Charles moved to 39A Curzon Street, where she became the "foremost female portrait photographer of her day".[7]
One of her portraits of a young girl was coloured and used as the cover image for the first issue of The Royal Magazine published by Sir Arthur Pearson in November 1898.[8]
Charles was inspired by Alice Hughes. Other pioneer women photographers of her time, other than her sister, were: Christina Broom, Kate Pragnell and Lizzie Caswall Smith.[9] Mme Yevonde was an apprentice of Charles, and Cecil Beaton, as a young man, posed for a family portrait, an experience he described in his book Photobiography.[10] Talking about the sisters, Beaton said: "Rita Martin and her sister, Lallie Charles, the rival photographer, posed their sitters in a soft conservatory-looking light, making all hair deliriously fashionable to be photo-lowered".[11] She died in Mayfair, London, on 5 April 1919.[3]
A small selection of negatives by Lallie Charles and Rita Martin is preserved at the National Portrait Gallery, donated by their niece Lallie Charles Cowell in 1994.[12]
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