RITA MARTIN

(1875-1958)

Margaret ‘Rita’ Wier Martin started her photographic career in 1897, when she helped her elder sister Lallie Charles (1869-1919) to run her studio in Regent’s Park. In 1906 she opened her own studio at 74 Baker Street. Martin worked in a similar style to Charles, photographing subjects in pale colours against a pure white background, and focused on actresses such as Lily Elsie (1886-1962) and Lily Brayton (1876-1953) and child studies, particularly of Gladys Cooper’s two children. Martin later moved to 27 Baker Street, where she continued working until the late 1920s. Several of her most reproduced child studies were of the Luke children, whose father, a former carpenter for Waring and Gillows, was responsible for building her second studio.