Yevonde Cumbers was the photographer of the colour when it was considered unnecessary in photography. Born in 1893, schooled in the manner of a proper young libertine at boarders and finishing schools Mrs Cumbers became self-aware during the Suffragette movement. Her achievements in the realm of experimental photography began around 1930 with the discovery of the Vivex colour process. The Vivex process was a variant of the original pigment transfer process and it gave a rich colour resolution with strong luminous reds and yellows and vibrant highlights. Her stylish Goddesses are portraits of society ladies dressed up as figures from classical mythology, produced in 1935 (Medusa, Persephone, Dido, Venus...). Madame Yevonde used colour not only to exploit the beauty and seductive charms of her sitters, but also to create the characters of the particular goddesses portrayed.
Madame Yevonde was one of the foremost portrait photographers of her times. In a career spanning over more than 60 years, she once estimated that more than 20,000 sitters had passed through her studio between 1914 and 1975. After a brief apprenticeship to Lallis Charles, the leading female portrait photographer of the day, Madame set up her own studio in Victoria street, London in 1914, and soon made her mark by developing her own inimitable style. Her work began to appear regularly in the Sketch and Tatler and other society magazines, and in 1922, she was commissioned to take the official engagement portrait of Louis Mountbatten and Edwina Ashley (later 1st Earl and Countess Mountbatten of Burma). Always a tireless experimenter and never one to shirk a challenge, Madame Yevonde embraced the advent of colour photography in the early 1930’s with her customary zest and enthusiasm. In particular, the VIVEX process, invented by Dr. D.A. Spencer, offered enormous scope for her unique and highly developed colour sense, and she worked closely with the inventor to develop its full potential. As early as 1932, she hired the Albany Gallery in Sackville street, London, and staged an exhibition of 70 of her prints, half of them black-and-white, and half colour, receiving an ecstatic review in the British Journal of Photography on 29th April, 1932. The impact of her colour work was not lost on the commercial advertisers and magazine editors for whom she had been producing B&W images since the mid-twenties, and who now saw in the new medium the perfect vehicle to get their message across to the public at large. There were also important and challenging assignments, such as that received from the American business magazine Fortune to photograph artists and craftsmen at work on the art deco interior of the liner RMS Queen Mary during fitting-out on the Clyde in 1936. In due course, many of the sitters who were initially reluctant to embrace the new medium, warmed to her easy charm and innovative approach and sat for their portraits in colour. Though she was still working in black-and-white, it was quite clear to her where the future lay. The high point of her career was undoubtedly reached with the exhibition entitled ‘Goddesses and Others’ held at her Berkeley Square studio in 1935. This featured colour portraits of society ladies dressed in a variety of classical costumes, representing goddesses and their attendant from classical mythology. Madame Yevonde had always been fascinated by beautiful women and this, together with her vivid imagination and her own particular brand of tongue-in-cheek humour, resulted in a memorable series of portraits which will secure her place in the history of fine art photography for all times. The outbreak of war in 1939 led to the closure of the VIVEX processing unit in London, and since it never re-opened, this also spelled the end of an era for Madame Yevonde. Undaunted by this and other more distressing personal misfortunes, she continued working in black-and-white throughout the war, though she finally had to move out into the country when her flat was all but demolished by bombs. The social changes brought about by the war led in the immediate post- war years to a more relaxed style of portraiture, to which Madame Yevonde readily adapted, capturing the essence of her sitters in their own accustomed surroundings. She began to experiment again - with solarisation, among other things - and held a number of exhibitions of her work, despite advancing years. In 1973, to celebrate her 80th birthday and sixty years in portrait photography, the Royal Photographic Society honoured her with a superb exhibition of approximately 100 of her finest works, covering almost every aspect and period of her work. It was a fitting tribute to a great artist whose enthusiasm, pioneering spirit, warm humanitarian sympathies and highly personal style had resulted in so many memorable images. The Goddesses (1935) The inspiration for the series of images which made up the exhibition entitled ‘Goddesses and Others’ came from a charity ball arranged by London society ladies to raise money for the Greater London Fund for the Blind, which took place at Claridge’s, one of the city’s grandest hotels, on 5th March, 1935. In accordance with the Olympian theme, the guests attended in a variety of highly imaginative costumes, as gods and goddesses, nymphs, fauns and other figures from classical mythology. Many of the society ladies who attended the function sought out Madame Yevonde to photograph them in their beautiful costumes, many of which had been designed by the very best designers in the country. Taking her inspiration from this bewildering array of beautiful women and glorious costumes, Madame set to work to create a fascinating series of images, re-assigning roles, re-modelling costumes and adding props appropriate to the role assumed by the sitter. Her own imaginative input into the series, coupled with her uniquely developed colour sense and humour, have resulted in a series of portraits which are highly original, visually stunning and imbued with great style and dash.