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Photographer told not to expose Larkin

The old adage ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ was obviously too close to the truth for Philip Larkin, the late British poet.

Disclosures obtained by a Sunday newspaper claim Larkin entered into correspondence with Fay Godwin, a photographer, about how he wanted to look in photographs.

Partly in jest, partly serious, the poet was apparently keen to prevent the camera exposing his baldness or girth.

“I now have three conditions that photographers must promise to observe in what they print,” Larkin wrote to Goodwin in letters dating back to 1985.

“(I am not bald, I have only one chin, my waist is concave) and this means that about the only picture of me now available is full-face head and shoulders, chin up, in dark shade.”

Larkin, who was known to be fond of women, appealed to Godwin, a prominent portraitist: “If you feel your genius could flourish under such restrictions, let me know.”

According to The Observer, which reported extracts from the correspondence yesterday, the letter is part of an archive that contains much of Godwin’s work, including negatives, camera equipment and transparencies.

Please click to view Godwin’s 1974 portrait of Larkin.

Aug 6, 2007
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