Photographer Jane Bown, known for her portraits of famous people including the Queen, the Beatles and Samuel Beckett, has died aged 89.
Bown joined the Observer in 1949 and continued to appear in the office every week for more than half a century.
Her other subjects included ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and artist Francis Bacon. Several of her pictures are in the National Portrait Gallery.
Observer editor John Mulholland called her “part of the Observer’s DNA”.
Bown last appeared in the Observer offices in August, although by then she was too frail to take photographs.
‘Immense contribution’
Mr Mulholland said: “During more than 50 years working for the Observer, she produced some of the most memorable and insightful images of prominent cultural and political figures taken during the 20th Century.
“From the Queen to the Beatles, Samuel Beckett to Bjork, John Betjeman to Bob Hope, her beautifully observed pictures have become part of our cultural landscape.
“She is part of the Observer’s DNA – her contribution to the paper’s history, as well to Britain’s artistic legacy, is immense, and will long survive her.
“She was loved by her colleagues and adored by our readers. We will miss her hugely.”
Food writer Jay Rayner, who worked with the photographer, said “we shall not see the like”.
He tweeted: “Jane Bown’s method was entirely disarming: a camera pulled from a shopping bag, a gaze as if to check the subject was interesting enough.
“Then just a dozen or so shots and she was done. Somewhere in there would be an image that most everyone else would have taken 100 to get.”
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Source:: BBC Entertainment
