24
norman parkinson
All imAges © NormAN PArkiNsoN Archive/icoNic imAges
T
he late Norman Parkinson was
a giant of fashion and portrait
photography, who was aptly
described by The New York Times
as, ‘the father of fashion photography’.
Despite this, until now, fewer than 200
of his photographs have ever been seen or
exhibited outside of their initial publication,
and precious little has been seen from his
archive of more than 750,000 images. This
is now changing dramatically.
The trustees of the Parkinson estate and
his surviving beneficiary (his grandson, Jake
Parkinson) have entrusted the impressive
archive to Iconic Images, a company that
specialises in representing legendary
photography archives. The Iconic Images’
roster of photographers includes the likes
of Terry O’Neill, John Swannell, Terence
Donovan and Douglas Kirkland, so you can
quickly get a sense of the elite company the
Parkinson archive is keeping.
The latest fruits of the ongoing research
into the archive – which covers Parkinson’s
whole career from the 1930s right up to his
death on assignment in Singapore in 1990- are the book Norman Parkinson: Always
in Fashion and two travelling exhibitions (in
Asia and Europe). To discover more, I spoke
to Robin Morgan, CEO of Iconic Images;
Carrie Kania, publishing director at Iconic
Images; and Terence Pepper OBE, who
curated the major Parkinson retrospective
at the National Portrait Gallery,
London, in 1981.
Never
The huge archive of legendary fashion
photographer norman parkinson is being
explored in depth for the first time ever.
Steve Fairclough speaks to the key
people who have been working on it
fashion
Left: In the Blazing Sun at George
Airfield. Wenda Parkinson
wearing a grey gabardine dress
by Dorville in South Africa.
British Vogue, May 1951Right: London Spring Collections. Wenda
Parkinson and Barbara Goalen wearing
Hardy Amies and Molyneux coats outside
the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square,
London. British Vogue, March 1949One of the pages from
Parkinson’s day books,
September 1963. He
called his day books
‘my Kalamazoo’out of