Mayotte Magnus

Mayotte Magnus FRPS (born 1934) is a French-born photographer and Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, In 1972, she won two prizes in the Ilford International competition. She became a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 1973, and the following year had a one-woman show at Fnac, Paris.

In 1977, the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) commissioned her to photograph 100 eminent British women of her choice, with the resultant portraits being shown for two months in an exhibition (21 October–11 December). Choosing not only women well known to the public, Magnus rather selected her subjects "for the nature of their achievements. Each one has, by developing her own interests and talents, contributed to the community, and in working for personal fulfilment has brought benefit to others." Margaret Drabble, Erin Pizzey, Margaret Busby, Laura Ashley, Mary Quant, Lynn Seymour, Marina Warner, Fay Godwin, Iris Murdoch, Elisabeth Lutyens, Julia Neuberger, Shirley Williams, Dorothy Hodgkin, Jessica Mitford, Edna O'Brien, Kathleen Raine, Molly Parkin, Christina Foyle, Marjorie Proops, and Dame Barbara Hepworth.

Magnus divorced her first husband in 1974, with whom she collaborated on a series of photographically illustrated books. Lewinski died in 2008. The building contains a large number of paintings and photographs.

Selected exhibitions 1972: Paris, La Fnac. 1973: Istanbul, Hotel Intercontinental 1977: London, National Portrait Gallery – Eminent British Women 1978: London, Great Hall in Parliament: Women, for the 50 Years of Women's Vote 1979: USA, San Francisco, Focus Gallery, with Jorge (Yuri) Lewinski and Yusuf Karsh 1980: London, Institute of Contemporary Art, Women’s Images of Men 2004: Seventy portraits of the inhabitants of the village of Alan, showing a French village at the turn of the millennium. 2005: The Seven Ages of Woman, taking William Shakespeare's theme, Seven Ages of Man, a 30-year retrospective. 2008: France: Carla Bayle: Photographer of the month of Photography 2016: L’oeil de Proust at l’Espace Bonnefoy, Toulouse, France Noirs sur Blancs at Maison Patrimoniale de Barthète, Boussan 2018, 8 September–24 March 2019: Illuminating Women, National Portrait Gallery 2024: 1/11/24 to 1/12/24, 'Seven Ages of Woman', 69 Old High Street, Folkestone CT20 1RN