Mark Gerson, who photographed Waugh and his family at two sessions in 1959 and 1963, has died at the age of 104, according to the Daily Telegraph. These sessions took place at the family home in Combe Florey. They are described and several of the photographs from them are displayed by Duncan McLaren on his website. Here are links to sessions in 1959 and 1963.
Here’s an excerpt from the obituary in today’s Daily Telegraph:
…Perhaps his best-known picture shows Evelyn Waugh flanked by two superior-looking sphinxes. The photo was taken while Gerson struggled to recover from a surfeit of Waugh’s claret and cigars. “The sphinxes had been bought to go on the roof,” he recalled. “I pushed them together and put him in between. It started to rain and he put the hat on. I saw the strange relationship between their faces and his. It was just one of those things.” Such a claim was typical of Gerson’s modesty and belied a technique that was never haphazard….
For a full copy of the obituary, see this link.
