Who knows the name Madame Yevonde now? And yet, this sparkling pioneer of colour photography shines as bright as ever when you look again at her series ‘Goddesses’.
Born Yevonde Cumbers in 1893 in Streatham England, she changed her already improbable name to the even more exotic ‘Madame Yevonde’. Independent and precocious, by her early twenties she had already set up her own photographic studio sending her images to the top society magazines of the time.
As colour photography began to appear in the 1930’s what could’ve better suited this dazzling woman? Mastering this new medium in record time she produced her ‘Goddesses’ series of society beauties – dressing them up in wonderful costumes with great flair.
“Be original or die!”
She was certainly that!
(How wonderful too to hear Lawrence Holes’s obvious love for the collection in the following video…)
