Background
Paul Tanqueray was born on January 14, 1905, in Littlehampton, West Sussex, United Kingdom.
Paul Tanqueray was born on January 14, 1905, in Littlehampton, West Sussex, United Kingdom.
Paul Tanqueray studied at the Tonbridge School in England (1920-1923). He was also a student at the studio of Hugh Cecil in London (1923-1924).
Paul Tanqueray opened his first studio at 139, High Street, Kensington in 1925. As one of London's youngest photographers, he was in a perfect position to document an era that had become obsessed with youth and modernism. He moved to the more fashionable West End of London at 8, Dover Street, near the Ritz Hotel. Tanqueray's photographs appeared regularly in the weekly Sketch and Tatler and most frequently inside and on the cover of Theatre World. Paul Tanqueray subsequently was known as one of the top Portrait Photographers of the times.
During the Second World War Paul Tanqueray worked mainly with Chelsea Home Guard. After the war, he re-opened his studio at 30, Thurloe Place in South Kensington, where his 1950's famous images included Elizabeth Seal, Dame Joan Plowright, and actress Claire Bloom.
Paul Tanqueray retired in 1965, and in two tranches donated his prints in 1975, and his negatives in 1983 to the National Portrait Gallery.
Paul Tanqueray died in September 1991.
During the 1930s Paul Tanqueray was a member of the Institute of British Photographers.