Eveleen Myers (née Tennant) (1856-1937) was a beauty, but certainly not a “professional beauty” in the commercial sense of the term; hers was a physical attractiveness recognized and portrayed by the celebrated artists of her time. None other than John Everett Millais and George Frederic Watts painted her in her vibrant youth. Myers herself would recall meeting photography pioneer Julia Margaret Cameron as a child and having posed for her. This meeting seems to have been transformative.
In the late 1880s after her marriage to Frederic William Henry Myers and the birth of her three children Eveleen would seek an outlet for her own artistic impulses by becoming a photographer. Within a short time she became a well-respected portrait photographer and also an heir to the aesthetic photographic tradition of Cameron.
Today a collection of over 200 images, now at London's National Portrait Gallery, remains her legacy. Since 2012 together with the curatorial staff at the Gallery Dr. Nic Peeters and I have been studying her work.
While many of her portraits are of celebrities and known models there remain a group of unidentified sitters for whom we seek information. Those titled are from inscriptions on photos but we have been unable to trace their certain identities. Others may be professional models or members of Myers's household.
Here is a list of images for which we ask help in identification.
Judy Oberhausen
San Mateo, CA, US
Dr. Nic Peeters
Edinburgh, UK
1. Renee Tennant (inscribed)
Platinum Print 1890s
9 1/2in. x 7 3/4in. (240 mm x 178 mm)
Purchased 1991
NPG Ax36323
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Photo: Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery
2. Miss Judd (inscribed)
Platinum Print, 1890s
9 1/2 in. x 7 in. (241 mm x 178 mm) overall
Purchased, 1991
NPG Ax36320
© The National Portrait Gallery, London
Photo: Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London
3. Unidentified Woman with Musical Instrument
Platinum Print 1890s
© The Terence Pepper Collection
Photo: Courtesy of the Terence Pepper Collection
4. Unidentified Woman with Hat
Platinum print 1890s
© The Terence Pepper Collection
Photo: Courtesy of the Terence Pepper Collection
5. Unidentified Robed Model
Listed as “Lady in Pajamas”
Postcard reproduction of platinum original
http://www.playle.com/listing.php?i=KDL61281
6. Unidentified Woman-1
Platinum print, 1890s
© The Terence Pepper Collection
Photo: Courtesy of the Terence Pepper Collection
7. Unidentified Woman-2
Platinum print 1890s
© The Terence Pepper Collection
Photo: Courtesy of The Terence Pepper Collection
8. Unidentified Woman-3
Platinum print 1890s
© The Terence Pepper Collection
Photo: Courtesy of The Terence Pepper Collection
Comments
Nice project. I'd suggest putting these out on a wider forum such as Flickr / Flick Commons and making the high(er) resolution images available. Also, putting a restrictive copyright on them makes them impossible to share (though I presume as Myers died in 1937 they are actually Public Domain).