Edward Carpenter thumbnail 1
Edward Carpenter thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level C , Case MB2A, Shelf DR82, Box LOANS

Edward Carpenter

Photograph
ca. 1890 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Hollyer was the photographer of choice for the artistic set of the late 19th century. His Portraits of Many Persons of Note fills three volumes with nearly 200 portraits and comprises a pictorial Who's Who of late Victorian and Edwardian celebrities. Carpenter was a writer on social subjects and poet.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Edward Carpenter (generic title)
  • Portraits of many persons of note photographed by Frederick Hollyer (series title)
Materials and techniques
Platinum print
Brief description
Portrait of Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) Portraits of many persons of note photographed by Frederick Hollyer, Vol. 1, platinum print, ca. 1890
Physical description
Half-length portrait of Carpenter seated, resting his head on his left hand and looking to the left.
Dimensions
  • Height: 21.6cm
  • Volume width: 18cm
Credit line
Given by Eleanor M. Hollyer
Subjects depicted
Summary
Hollyer was the photographer of choice for the artistic set of the late 19th century. His Portraits of Many Persons of Note fills three volumes with nearly 200 portraits and comprises a pictorial Who's Who of late Victorian and Edwardian celebrities. Carpenter was a writer on social subjects and poet.
Bibliographic reference
Edward Carpenter (1844 – 1929) was a socialist writer and campaigner for homosexual equality. Born in Brighton, Carpenter attended Trinity College, Cambridge before becoming a curate. He was heavily influenced by the minister at his church, the leader of the Christian Socialist movement, but left to become a lecturer in astronomy. During this period, he moved to Sheffield to live fairly openly in a same sex relationship with George Merrill, which was to last for 40 years. In 1883, Carpenter joined the Social Democratic Federation, and in 1885 left to join the Socialist League. Achieving growing acclaim for his poetry, he became a founder member of the Independent Labour Party in 1893. As a pacifist, he was a vocal opponent of first the Boer War and subsequently the First World War. In the 1890s, Carpenter began to campaign against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. He strongly believed that sexuality was innate. In 1897 Havelock Ellis published Sexual Inversion, the first of his six volume Studies in the Psychology of Sex. The book was first serious study of homosexuality published in Britain, based partly as a result of his awareness of the homosexuality of his own wife, Edith, and many of their friends, including Carpenter. In 1908, Carpenter wrote Intermediate Sex, an important though at the time highly controversial book on the subject of homosexuality. He remains one of the standout pioneers for LGBTQ equality in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Collection
Accession number
7610-1938

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Record createdSeptember 15, 2004
Record URL
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