Private Eye: Photographs by Lewis Morley
Willie Rushton, Diana Clarke and Barry Fantoni by Lewis Morley © Lewis Morley Archive / National Portrait Gallery, London
- Date
- Monday 31st October 2011 - Monday 16th April 2012
- Time
- Sat - Weds 10am – 6pm. Late Opening Thursday - Friday 10am – 9pm
- Place
- National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE
- Learn More
- http://www.npg.org.uk
On the 50th anniversary of the first issue of Private Eye, portraits by the semi-official photographer of the satirical magazine go on show
Private Eye was the brainchild of Christopher Booker, Richard Ingrams and Willie Rushton who had been friends since school and continued to stay in touch through their Oxbridge years. The first issue appeared on 25 October 1961, and quickly became an influential source of anti-establishment satire and expose fuelled by high profile, insightful contributing writers.
The 11 photographs by Morley on document the formation and early years of Private Eye. Portraits of Ingrams and Rushton sit alongside those of favourite contributors, like the journalist Auberon Waugh, cartoonist Timothy Birdsall and entertainer Barry Humphries.
Hong-Kong born photographer Lewis Morley stumbled into the satirical scene of the early 60s as his studio was above Peter Cook’s Establishment Club in Soho. He had worked as a painter in Paris in the 50s before moving to London and taking up theatre and fashion photography in 1954. The National Portait Gallery holds some 300 of Morley's prints in their collection, though his best known image must be the photograph of Christine Keeler taken as the Profumo scandal was unfolding in 1963.
