Cornel Lucas Collection on Display at the Old Cinema

BAFTA award winning photographer took pictures of the Hollywood greats

Diana Dors in Venice
Diana Dors in Venice. Picture: © Cornel Lucas Collection

Related Links

Book Festival to Host Special Screening of The Go-Between

Plaque Unveiled to Michael Flanders in Bedford Park

Participate

Sign up for our weekly Chiswick newsletter

Comment on this story on the

August 15, 2023

A display of the work of Cornel Lucas is taking place in Chiswick this month at the Old Cinema.

Running until 31 August, there will be a chance to see for free an exhibition of the work of the only photographer to have ever been awarded a BAFTA for his "outstanding contribution to the British Film Industry".

He took photos of nearly every major Hollywood star filming in England during the fifties and sixties creating portraits that he perfected by hand.

Born in Highbury in 1920, he enjoyed a career at the forefront of photography for over 70 years. His talent was first nurtured by his mother, who bought him a Kodak Box Brownie camera for his 11th birthday and his six sisters provided him with a team of in-house models. One of the family’s bathrooms was converted into a darkroom.

He was introduced to the film industry at 15 by his brother who worked in a film processing laboratory. He earnings from being a trainee allowed him to study photography part-time at Westminster University.

The skills he acquired saw him being posted to the RAF school of photography in Farnborough, Hampshire at the start of the war where he was engaged in top-secret aerial reconnaissance assignments.

Following the Allied victory, he went to work at Denham Film Studios. Here he became well known for his portraiture. When international superstars came to work on British productions, they were invariably photographed by Lucas to create their publicity stills.

During the 1940s and 1950s Lucas soon became the UK’s leading movie star photographer, capturing the great and the good of both the UK and US film industries. During the making of 'No Highway' (1951), his skill and expertise as a portrait photographer led to a special session with Marlene Dietrich. The success of these images, and the many others, prompted the Rank Organisation to provide him with a specially equipped studio at Pinewood to photograph the fifty plus major film stars they had under contract.

Marlene Dietrich (left) and Brigitte Bardot (right)
Marlene Dietrich (left) and Brigitte Bardot (right). Picture: © Cornel Lucas Collection

From here Lucas produced the exceptional images that have, in the words of Lord Puttnam, "become the photographic icons by which we come to know and remember the stars" of this golden age of cinema. During these years Lucas worked on some of the most memorable films of our time, building up a strong association with Columbia and Universal Studios.

In 1959 Lucas left Pinewood and moved into the freelance world, opening his own studio in Chelsea's Flood Street where he made a second career embracing other aspects of photography such as advertising and fashion, whilst continuing as a portraitist.


Gregory Peck and David Niven. Picture: © Cornel Lucas Collection

In 1998 Lucas became the only photographer ever to be awarded a BAFTA for his outstanding contribution to the British Film industry. In 2005 after international exhibitions in Brazil, Holland and America, a limited-edition publication Shooting Stars was produced to coincide with a lifetime retrospective held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.


Claudia Cardinale. Picture: © Cornel Lucas Collection

Cornel Lucas' work can be seen on permanent display at several venues across London including the Photographers Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum and BAFTA. To commemorate his life and work, two short films and a limited edition of British postage stamps have also been produced.

His son Linus said, “As a family archive, our principal aim has always been to keep my father’s photographic legacy alive and to share his wonderful images with as many people as possible. We want to celebrate this master craftsman for the amazing contribution he made to the photographic and film industries over his career that spanned 70 years.

“I believe my father as a portraitist had a unique and technically brilliant photographic style. His ability to create such dramatic imagery, with characteristic low-key, high-contrast lighting, mixing both light and shade whilst always maintaining a beautiful tonal range, demonstrates an altogether different way of working than that we so often see today. His style shows such a sensitivity yet artistic flair, that I believe, will always be relevant and of interest to any photography enthusiast. Iconic images like these never really go out of fashion and will forever remain timeless. He was an artist that painted with light.”

Prints of his vintage work will be on sale during the exhibition at the Old Cinema at 160 Chiswick High Road and the pictures can also be viewed on the Cornel Lucas web site.

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.



Bookmark and Share