Dame Rebecca West (Cicily Isabel Andrews (née Fairfield))
- Artist: Carl Van Vechten
- Date: 1934
- Medium: vintage gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: 6 1/2 in. x 9 1/2 in. (166 mm x 242 mm)
- Portrays: Dame Rebecca West (Cicily Isabel Andrews (née Fairfield))
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
In this portrait, the viewer sees Dame Rebecca West—Cicily Isabel Andrews, née Fairfield—in profile against a simple backdrop that lets her face take center stage. The photograph shows her slightly turned left, eyes focused ahead, with a subtle smile hinting at her confident poise.
The image is a vintage gelatin‑silver print from 28 May 1934. In those days the silver emulsion captured fine detail in sharp tonal range; you can still feel the slight depth in her cheekbones and the crispness of her eyes through the small frame, just over six inches tall and nine inches wide.
The photographer, Carl Van Vechten (1880‑1964), was a critic, novelist and amateur photographer who produced 22 such portraits. He captured West at an age when her writing had already earned her national recognition; she would later become a Dame of the Order of the British Empire for her literary work.
This print has been in the National Portrait Gallery’s Primary Collection since its purchase in 2006, giving us a direct window into both West’s likeness and early twentieth‑century photographic practice.
See it in person
Dame Rebecca West (Cicily Isabel Andrews (née Fairfield)) is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
