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Revision as of 14:44, 14 January 2021 edit2a00:23c4:e885:3e01:750a:a636:693c:9e3f (talk) →Personal life← Previous edit Latest revision as of 00:32, 3 January 2025 edit undoJJthwild (talk | contribs)11 edits I have corrected inaccuracies, and made clearer details that could be misleading, including clarification as to why my mother used the pseudonym name Dick Muir and its origins, plus correcting my fathers name from Hopkins to Thurston Hopkins, as I have done for his WIKI page alsoTag: Visual edit 
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⚫ {{Short description|British photojournalist (1930–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
⚫ '''Grace Robertson''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|OBE|size=100%}} (13 July 1930<ref name="Debretts">, Debretts. Retrieved 16 June 2013.</ref> – 11 January 2021<ref>, bbc.co.uk, 22 January 2021</ref>) was a British photographer who worked as a ], and published in '']'' and '']''.<ref>{{cite news|first=Andrew |last=Farrell|date=11 April 2019|access-date=15 January 2021|title=IN PICTURES: Grace Robertson, a trailblazer for female photography|url=https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/uk-world/868895/in-pictures-grace-robertson-a-trailblazer-for-female-photography/|newspaper=]}}</ref> Her photographic series, including "Mother's Day Off" (1954) and "Childbirth" (1955), mainly recorded ordinary women in ].
⚫ {{Short description|British photojournalist}}
⚫ '''Grace Robertson''' ] (13 July 1930<ref name="Debretts">, Debretts. Retrieved 16 June 2013.</ref> – January 2021) was a British photographer who worked as a ], and published in '']'' and '']''. Her photographic series, including "Mother's Day Off" (1954) and "Childbirth" (1955), mainly recorded ordinary women in postwar Britain.


Robertson's work is held in the collections of the ],<ref name="nationalgalleries">{{cite web|accessdate=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson|url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/grace-robertson|website=www.nationalgalleries.org}}</ref> ],<ref name="sciencemuseumgroup">{{cite web|accessdate=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson|url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp134726/grace-robertson|website=sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk}}</ref> ]<ref name="tate">{{cite web|accessdate=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/grace-robertson-10416|website=Tate}}</ref> and ].<ref name="vam">{{cite web|accessdate=14 January 2021|title=Search the Collections|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/grace-robertson/A10305/|website=collections.vam.ac.uk}}</ref> Robertson's work is held in the collections of the ],<ref name="nationalgalleries">{{cite web|access-date=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson|url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/grace-robertson|website=www.nationalgalleries.org}}</ref> ],<ref name="sciencemuseumgroup">{{cite web|access-date=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson|url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/cp134726/grace-robertson|website=sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk}}</ref> ]<ref name="tate">{{cite web|access-date=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/grace-robertson-10416|website=Tate}}</ref> and ].<ref name="vam">{{cite web|access-date=14 January 2021|title=Search the Collections|url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/name/grace-robertson/A10305/|website=collections.vam.ac.uk}}</ref>


==Early life== ==Early life==
Robertson was born in ], England, in 1930, to the journalist ] and his wife Elizabeth (Betty; née Smith).<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/13/grace-robertson-pioneering-photographer-with-a-gentle-eye-dies-at-90|title=Grace Robertson, pioneering photographer with a gentle eye, dies at 90|first=Sean|last=O'Hagan|work=]|date=13 January 2021|access-date=13 January 2021}}</ref><ref name=ODNB_Baker>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Anne Pimlott Baker |title=Robertson, Fyfe |encyclopedia=] |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=23 September 2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49502}}</ref> Both her parents were born in Scotland, and Robertson described herself as Scottish in a 2010 interview with '']''.<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /> After leaving school at 16 she looked after her mother, who had ].<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /><ref name="Murphy">{{cite news | last = Murphy | first = Anna | title = Grace Robertson, interview with the 1950s photojournalist | newspaper = ] | date =9 August 2010 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/7918495/Grace-Robertson-interview-with-the-1950s-photojournalist.html | access-date = 17 March 2016}}</ref> She became interested in photography in 1948 and, in 1949, her father gave her a ] camera.<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name=Scotsman_2010 /><ref name="Murphy" /> Robertson was born in ], England, in 1930, to the journalist and broadcaster ] and his wife Elizabeth (Betty; née Muir).<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/jan/13/grace-robertson-pioneering-photographer-with-a-gentle-eye-dies-at-90|title=Grace Robertson, pioneering photographer with a gentle eye, dies at 90|first=Sean|last=O'Hagan|work=]|date=13 January 2021|access-date=13 January 2021}}</ref><ref name=ODNB_Baker>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Anne Pimlott |last=Baker |title=Robertson, Fyfe |encyclopedia=] |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=23 September 2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/49502}}</ref> Both her parents were born in Scotland, and Robertson described herself as Scottish in a 2010 interview with '']''.<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /> After leaving school at 16 she looked after her mother, who had ].<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /><ref name="Murphy">{{cite news | last = Murphy | first = Anna | title = Grace Robertson, interview with the 1950s photojournalist | newspaper = ] | date =9 August 2010 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/7918495/Grace-Robertson-interview-with-the-1950s-photojournalist.html | access-date = 17 March 2016}}</ref> She became interested in photography in 1948 and, in 1949, her father gave her a ] camera.<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name=Scotsman_2010 /><ref name="Murphy" />


==Career== ==Career==
In 1951 Robertson had a ] about her younger sister doing her homework published in '']'',<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name="Murphy" /> where her father worked.<ref name=ODNB_Baker /> Another early success was on Chinese artists.<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /> Some of her early submissions used the masculine pseudonym "Dick Muir", to avoid using her father's name.<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /> Her first commission for ''Picture Post'' was in Snowdonia, which resulted in "Sheep Shearing in Wales" (1951).<ref name=Hyman_profile>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishphotography.org/artists/19156/statement/grace-robertson |title=Grace Robertson: Artist Profile |publisher=Hyman Collection |accessdate=14 January 2021 }}</ref> In 1952, she photographed the Bluebell Girls in Italy,<ref name=Hyman_profile /> and also published "Tate Gallery" (1952).<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /> In 1951 Robertson had a ] about her younger sister doing her homework published in '']'',<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name="Murphy" /> where her father worked.<ref name=ODNB_Baker /> Another early success was on Chinese artists.<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /> Some of her early submissions used the male pseudonym "Dick Muir", ( a name made up of an old boyfriends first name and her mothers maiden name) to avoid revealing she was a woman, Her first commission for ''Picture Post'' was in ], which resulted in "Sheep Shearing in Wales" (1951).<ref name=Hyman_profile>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishphotography.org/artists/19156/statement/grace-robertson |title=Grace Robertson: Artist Profile |publisher=Hyman Collection |access-date=14 January 2021 }}</ref> In 1952, she photographed the Bluebell Girls in Italy,<ref name=Hyman_profile /> and also published "Tate Gallery" (1952).<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan />


At the date she was working, most photojournalists were men, and she was often assigned more feminine stories.<ref name=Oxford_Hopkinson>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Amanda Hopkinson |title=Robertson, Grace (b. 1930), British photographer |editor=Robin Lenman, Angela Nicholson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to the Photograph |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |orig-year=2005 |isbn=9780191727566 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662716.001.0001}}</ref> Her best-known series, "Mother's Day Off", documented working-class women from ] in London, enjoying a day out in ], and was published in ''Picture Post'' in 1954. The middle-aged to elderly subjects are depicted dancing, drinking and on a fairground ride. She was commissioned to shoot a similar series featuring women from ] for '']'' magazine in 1956.<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name=Scotsman_2010 /><ref name=Hyman_profile /> ''The Scotsman'' describes both these sets of photographs as "perfectly composed, artifice-free examples of classic reportage".<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /> Her series "Childbirth", published in ''Picture Post'' in 1955, included photographs of a woman in labour and delivery, considered explicit at the time, and were among the earliest such images to appear in a magazine.<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name=Hyman_profile /> At the date she was working, most photojournalists were men, and she was often assigned more feminine stories.<ref name=Oxford_Hopkinson>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Amanda |last=Hopkinson |author-link=Amanda Hopkinson|title=Robertson, Grace (b. 1930), British photographer |editor=Robin Lenman, Angela Nicholson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to the Photograph |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |orig-date=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-172756-6 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780198662716.001.0001}}</ref> Working as a freelancer throughout her career, her best-known series, "Mother's Day Off", documented working-class women from ] in London, enjoying a day out in ], and was published in ''Picture Post'' in 1954. The middle-aged to elderly subjects are depicted dancing, drinking and on a fairground ride. She was commissioned to shoot a similar series featuring women from ] for '']'' magazine in 1956.<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name=Scotsman_2010 /><ref name=Hyman_profile /> '']'' describes both these sets of photographs as "perfectly composed, artifice-free examples of classic reportage".<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /> Her series "Childbirth", published in ''Picture Post'' in 1955, included photographs of a woman in labour and delivery, considered explicit at the time, and were among the earliest such images to appear in a magazine.<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name=Hyman_profile />


Around this time, ''Life'' magazine offered her a staff job in the United States, but Robertson, recently married to Thurston Hopkins famously said she "chose life over life" and remained freelance in the UK.<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /> After the failure of the ''Picture Post'' in 1957, she continued to work as a freelance photographer and photojournalist for ''Life'' and other publications, and also took advertising photographs.
Around this time, ''Life'' offered her a job in the United States, but Robertson refused.<ref name=Scotsman_2010 /> After the failure of the ''Picture Post'' in 1957, she worked as a freelance photographer and photojournalist for ''Life'' and other publications, and also took advertising photographs. After having children, she trained and worked as a primary school teacher in 1966–1978, while continuing to take photographs.<ref name=Scotsman_2010>{{cite news |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/interview-grace-robertson-photojournalist-2442540 |title=Interview: Grace Robertson, photojournalist |newspaper=] |date=11 May 2010 |accessdate=14 January 2021}}</ref><ref name=Hyman_profile /><ref name=Oxford_Hopkinson /><ref name=Hyman_timeline>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishphotography.org/artists/19156/biography/grace-robertson|title=Grace Robertson: Biography |publisher=Hyman Collection |accessdate=14 January 2021}}</ref> After retiring from teaching, she started to paint during the 1980s.<ref name=Oxford_Hopkinson /> In 1986, ] broadcast a documentary about Robertson, and her work was included in an exhibition at the ] in ]; several other exhibitions in the UK and the United States followed. In 1989, she published an autobiographical monograph, entitled ''Grace Robertson – Photojournalist of the 50s''. In 1992, the ] commissioned a programme from her about ninety year olds.<ref name=Hyman_profile /><ref name=Hyman_timeline /> She also gave lectures on women photographers.<ref name=Hyman_profile /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/grace-robertson |title=Grace Robertson |publisher=National Galleries Scotland |accessdate=14 January 2021 }}</ref>


After having children, she trained and worked as a primary school teacher from 1966 to 1978, while continuing to take photographs.<ref name=Scotsman_2010>{{cite news |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/interview-grace-robertson-photojournalist-2442540 |title=Interview: Grace Robertson, photojournalist |newspaper=] |date=11 May 2010 |access-date=14 January 2021}}</ref><ref name=Hyman_profile /><ref name=Oxford_Hopkinson /><ref name=Hyman_timeline>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishphotography.org/artists/19156/biography/grace-robertson|title=Grace Robertson: Biography |publisher=Hyman Collection |access-date=14 January 2021}}</ref> After retiring from teaching, she started to paint during the 1980s.<ref name=Oxford_Hopkinson />
⚫ ], writing in '']'', characterises Robertson's work as recording ordinary women in postwar Britain, and describes her as a "proto-feminist".<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /> Tirza Latimer and Harriet Riches consider her work to be "limited to a focus on women's interests."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |authors=Tirza Latimer, Harriet Riches |title=Women and photography |encyclopedia=] |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=11 February 2013 |orig-year=2006 |doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T2022250}}</ref>

In 1986, ] broadcast a documentary about Robertson, and her work was included in an exhibition at the ] in ]; several other exhibitions in the UK and the United States followed. In 1989, she published an autobiographical monograph, entitled ''Grace Robertson – Photojournalist of the 50s''.<ref name="Indie-mag">{{cite magazine |last1=Hopkinson |first1=Tom |title=Caught by Grace |magazine=The Independent Magazine |date=28 Oct 1989}}</ref> In 1992, the ] commissioned a programme from her about ninety year olds.<ref name=Hyman_profile /><ref name=Hyman_timeline /> She also gave lectures on women photographers.<ref name=Hyman_profile /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/grace-robertson |title=Grace Robertson |publisher=National Galleries Scotland |access-date=14 January 2021 }}</ref>

⚫ ], writing in '']'', characterises Robertson's work as recording ordinary women in postwar Britain, and describes her as a "proto-feminist".<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /> Tirza Latimer and Harriet Riches consider her work to be "limited to a focus on women's interests."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |first=Tirza |last=Latimer |author2=Harriet Riches |title=Women and photography |encyclopedia=] |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=11 February 2013 |orig-date=2006 |doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T2022250}}</ref>


==Awards and honours== ==Awards and honours==
Robertson was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the ] in 1995<ref> Retrieved 13 January 2021.</ref> and appointed an OBE in 1999.<ref name="Debretts" /><ref name=Hyman_timeline /> She received honorary degrees from the ] (1995) and ] (2007).<ref name=Hyman_timeline /> Robertson was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the ] in 1995<ref>{{cite web|access-date=13 January 2021|title=Honorary Fellowship|url=https://rps.org/about/awards/history-and-recipients/honorary-fellowship/|website=Royal Photographic Society}}</ref> and appointed an ] in 1999.<ref name="Debretts" /><ref name=Hyman_timeline /> She received honorary degrees from the ] (1995) and ] (2007).<ref name=Hyman_timeline />


==Personal life== ==Personal life==
In 1955, she married the ''Picture Post'' photographer ].<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name="Murphy" /> They had two children.<ref name=Guardian_Hopkinson>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/30/thurston-hopkins |authors=Amanda Hopkinson, David Mitchell |title=Thurston Hopkins obituary |newspaper=] |date=30 October 2014 |accessdate=14 January 2021}}</ref> In the 1980s, on Hopkins' retirement, the couple moved to ] in ] where they remained until his death in 2014, aged 101.<ref name=Guardian_Hopkinson /> Robertson's death was reported on 11th January 2021.<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /> Robertson, who stood 6&nbsp;ft 2in in her bare feet,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/grace-robertson-obituary-q9sfn607c|title=Grace Robertson obituary|newspaper=The Times|date=5 April 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.bl.uk/sound-and-vision/2021/01/grace-robertson-a-pioneer-of-womens-documentary-photography.html#:~:text=Grace%2C%20then%20aged%2063%2C%20agreed,was%20six%20feet%20two%20inches)|title = Grace Robertson, a pioneer of women's documentary photography|website=Sound and vision blog|publisher=]|date=15 January 2021}}</ref> married in 1955 the ''Picture Post'' photographer ].<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan /><ref name="Murphy" /> They had two children.<ref name=Guardian_Hopkinson>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/30/thurston-hopkins |first=Amanda |last=Hopkinson |author2=David Mitchell |title=Thurston Hopkins obituary |newspaper=] |date=30 October 2014 |access-date=14 January 2021}}</ref> In the 1980s, on Thurston Hopkins' retirement, the couple moved to ] in ], where they remained until their deaths in 2014 at the age of 101<ref name=Guardian_Hopkinson /> and 2021 age 90 respectively.

Robertson died on 11 January 2021, aged 90.<ref name=Guardian_O'Hagan />


==Publications== ==Publications==
===Books of work by Robertson=== ===Books of work by Robertson===
*{{cite book |title=Grace Robertson: Photojournalist of the 50s |last=Robertson |first=Grace |year=1989 |publisher=Virago Press |location= London |isbn= 1-85381-089-4 }} *{{cite book |title=Grace Robertson: Photojournalist of the 50s |last=Robertson |first=Grace |year=1989 |publisher=Virago |location= London |isbn= 1-85381-089-4 }}
*{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Grace|title=Grace Robertson: A Sympathetic Eye|year=2002|publisher=University of Brighton |isbn=9781901177626 }} *{{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Grace|title=Grace Robertson: A Sympathetic Eye|year=2002|publisher=University of Brighton |isbn=978-1-901177-62-6 }}


===Books of work with contributions by Robertson=== ===Books of work with contributions by Robertson===
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*], Scotland: 7 prints (as of January 2021)<ref name="nationalgalleries"/> *], Scotland: 7 prints (as of January 2021)<ref name="nationalgalleries"/>
*], UK: 3 prints (as of January 2021)<ref name="sciencemuseumgroup"/> *], UK: 3 prints (as of January 2021)<ref name="sciencemuseumgroup"/>
*], London: 7 prints (as of January 2021)<ref name="tate">{{cite web|accessdate=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/grace-robertson-10416|website=Tate}}</ref> *], London: 7 prints (as of January 2021)<ref name="tate"/>
*The Aldrich Collection, ], Brighton and Hove: 2 prints (as of January 2021)<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson|url=http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/collections/aldrich/grace-robertson|website=arts.brighton.ac.uk}}</ref> *The Aldrich Collection, ], Brighton and Hove: 2 prints (as of January 2021)<ref>{{cite web|access-date=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson|url=http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/collections/aldrich/grace-robertson|website=arts.brighton.ac.uk}}</ref>
*], London: 22 prints (as of January 2021)<ref name="vam"/> *], London: 22 prints (as of January 2021)<ref name="vam"/>
A portrait of Robertson by Rena Pearl is held in the collection of the ].<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson – National Portrait Gallery|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp68125/grace-robertson|website=www.npg.org.uk}}</ref> A portrait of Robertson by Rena Pearl is held in the collection of the ].<ref>{{cite web|access-date=14 January 2021|title=Grace Robertson – National Portrait Gallery|url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp68125/grace-robertson|website=www.npg.org.uk}}</ref>


==References== ==References==
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*{{cite book |last1=Rosenblum |first1=Naomi |title=A History of Women Photographers |date=2014 |publisher=Abbeville |location=New York}} *{{cite book |last1=Rosenblum |first1=Naomi |title=A History of Women Photographers |date=2014 |publisher=Abbeville |location=New York}}
*{{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=Grace |last2=Williams |first2=Val |last3=Graham |first3=Beryl |last4=Wells |first4=Liz |last5=Friend |first5=Melanie |title=Signals: Festival of Women Photographers |date=1994 |publisher=Interchange Studios |location=London}} *{{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=Grace |last2=Williams |first2=Val |last3=Graham |first3=Beryl |last4=Wells |first4=Liz |last5=Friend |first5=Melanie |title=Signals: Festival of Women Photographers |date=1994 |publisher=Interchange Studios |location=London}}
*{{cite book |last1=Robertson |first1=Grace |title=Grace Robertson: photojournalist of the 50s |date=1989 |publisher=Virago |location=London |isbn=1853810894}}

==External links== ==External links==
* in ''The Guardian'' * in ''The Guardian''
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Latest revision as of 00:32, 3 January 2025

British photojournalist (1930–2021)

Grace Robertson OBE (13 July 1930 – 11 January 2021) was a British photographer who worked as a photojournalist, and published in Picture Post and Life. Her photographic series, including "Mother's Day Off" (1954) and "Childbirth" (1955), mainly recorded ordinary women in postwar Britain.

Robertson's work is held in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, Science Museum Group, Tate and Victoria and Albert Museum.

Early life

Robertson was born in Manchester, England, in 1930, to the journalist and broadcaster Fyfe Robertson and his wife Elizabeth (Betty; née Muir). Both her parents were born in Scotland, and Robertson described herself as Scottish in a 2010 interview with The Scotsman. After leaving school at 16 she looked after her mother, who had rheumatoid arthritis. She became interested in photography in 1948 and, in 1949, her father gave her a Leica camera.

Career

In 1951 Robertson had a photo-essay about her younger sister doing her homework published in Picture Post, where her father worked. Another early success was on Chinese artists. Some of her early submissions used the male pseudonym "Dick Muir", ( a name made up of an old boyfriends first name and her mothers maiden name) to avoid revealing she was a woman, Her first commission for Picture Post was in Snowdonia, which resulted in "Sheep Shearing in Wales" (1951). In 1952, she photographed the Bluebell Girls in Italy, and also published "Tate Gallery" (1952).

At the date she was working, most photojournalists were men, and she was often assigned more feminine stories. Working as a freelancer throughout her career, her best-known series, "Mother's Day Off", documented working-class women from Bermondsey in London, enjoying a day out in Margate, and was published in Picture Post in 1954. The middle-aged to elderly subjects are depicted dancing, drinking and on a fairground ride. She was commissioned to shoot a similar series featuring women from Clapham for Life magazine in 1956. The Scotsman describes both these sets of photographs as "perfectly composed, artifice-free examples of classic reportage". Her series "Childbirth", published in Picture Post in 1955, included photographs of a woman in labour and delivery, considered explicit at the time, and were among the earliest such images to appear in a magazine.

Around this time, Life magazine offered her a staff job in the United States, but Robertson, recently married to Thurston Hopkins famously said she "chose life over life" and remained freelance in the UK. After the failure of the Picture Post in 1957, she continued to work as a freelance photographer and photojournalist for Life and other publications, and also took advertising photographs.

After having children, she trained and worked as a primary school teacher from 1966 to 1978, while continuing to take photographs. After retiring from teaching, she started to paint during the 1980s.

In 1986, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary about Robertson, and her work was included in an exhibition at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford; several other exhibitions in the UK and the United States followed. In 1989, she published an autobiographical monograph, entitled Grace Robertson – Photojournalist of the 50s. In 1992, the BBC commissioned a programme from her about ninety year olds. She also gave lectures on women photographers.

Sean O'Hagan, writing in The Guardian, characterises Robertson's work as recording ordinary women in postwar Britain, and describes her as a "proto-feminist". Tirza Latimer and Harriet Riches consider her work to be "limited to a focus on women's interests."

Awards and honours

Robertson was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society in 1995 and appointed an OBE in 1999. She received honorary degrees from the University of Brighton (1995) and Brunel University (2007).

Personal life

Robertson, who stood 6 ft 2in in her bare feet, married in 1955 the Picture Post photographer Thurston Hopkins. They had two children. In the 1980s, on Thurston Hopkins' retirement, the couple moved to Seaford in East Sussex, where they remained until their deaths in 2014 at the age of 101 and 2021 age 90 respectively.

Robertson died on 11 January 2021, aged 90.

Publications

Books of work by Robertson

  • Robertson, Grace (1989). Grace Robertson: Photojournalist of the 50s. London: Virago. ISBN 1-85381-089-4.
  • Robertson, Grace (2002). Grace Robertson: A Sympathetic Eye. University of Brighton. ISBN 978-1-901177-62-6.

Books of work with contributions by Robertson

Collections

Robertson's work is held in the following public collections:

A portrait of Robertson by Rena Pearl is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.

References

  1. ^ Ms Grace Robertson, OBE, Debretts. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
  2. Matthew Bannister on record producer Phil Spector, photographer Grace Robertson and race walker Paul Nihill., bbc.co.uk, 22 January 2021
  3. Farrell, Andrew (11 April 2019). "IN PICTURES: Grace Robertson, a trailblazer for female photography". The Courier (Dundee). Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Grace Robertson". www.nationalgalleries.org. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Grace Robertson". sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  6. ^ "Grace Robertson". Tate. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  7. ^ "Search the Collections". collections.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  8. ^ O'Hagan, Sean (13 January 2021). "Grace Robertson, pioneering photographer with a gentle eye, dies at 90". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  9. ^ Baker, Anne Pimlott (23 September 2004). "Robertson, Fyfe ". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/49502.
  10. ^ "Interview: Grace Robertson, photojournalist". The Scotsman. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  11. ^ Murphy, Anna (9 August 2010). "Grace Robertson, interview with the 1950s photojournalist". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
  12. ^ "Grace Robertson: Artist Profile". Hyman Collection. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  13. ^ Hopkinson, Amanda (2006) . "Robertson, Grace (b. 1930), British photographer". In Robin Lenman, Angela Nicholson (ed.). The Oxford Companion to the Photograph. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780198662716.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-172756-6.
  14. ^ "Grace Robertson: Biography". Hyman Collection. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  15. Hopkinson, Tom (28 October 1989). "Caught by Grace". The Independent Magazine.
  16. "Grace Robertson". National Galleries Scotland. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  17. Latimer, Tirza; Harriet Riches (11 February 2013) . "Women and photography". Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T2022250.
  18. "Honorary Fellowship". Royal Photographic Society. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  19. "Grace Robertson obituary". The Times. 5 April 2021.
  20. "Grace Robertson, a pioneer of women's documentary photography". Sound and vision blog. British Library. 15 January 2021.
  21. ^ Hopkinson, Amanda; David Mitchell (30 October 2014). "Thurston Hopkins obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  22. "Grace Robertson". arts.brighton.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  23. "Grace Robertson – National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2021.

Further reading

  • Rosenblum, Naomi (2014). A History of Women Photographers. New York: Abbeville.
  • Robertson, Grace; Williams, Val; Graham, Beryl; Wells, Liz; Friend, Melanie (1994). Signals: Festival of Women Photographers. London: Interchange Studios.
  • Robertson, Grace (1989). Grace Robertson: photojournalist of the 50s. London: Virago. ISBN 1853810894.

External links

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