Pre Raphaelite Photography by Graham Ovenden

Ovenden's work has also graced the covers of record albums ( Malice in Wonderland by Paice Ashton Lord) and books, notably the Arden Shakespeare series, and the British hardcover edition of A. Putnam's Sons, 1973) David Inshaw, Graham Ovenden, Martin Axon: Photographs 1957-1981 (Plymouth Arts Centre Touring Exhibition Catalogue) Graham Ovenden Photographs (Olympus Gallery, 1984) Bradley Smith, Erotic Art of the Masters: The 18th, 19th & 20th Centuries (Mayflower Books, 1980) and Bradley Smith, 20th Century Masters of Erotic Art (Fleetbooks, 1980). Great Photographers of the Nude (AMPHOTO, 1987) Emily Brönte, Sturmhöhe (illustrations by Ovenden) (Carl Bertelsmann, 1981) Charles Causley, A Tribute from the Artist (Exeter University, 1987) Robert Melville, Erotic Art of the West (G.P. Other publications containing his work include David Bailey, The Naked Eye. A general monograph of his paintings, drawings, prints and photographs, entitled Graham Ovenden, was published by Academy Editions/St. Aspects of Lolita (Academy Editions, 1976) contains prints inspired by Vladimir Nabokov's novel, Lolita. His photographs of the children's street culture in London taken in the late 1950s and early 1960s when Ovenden was a teenager have been published in Childhood Streets (Ophelia Editions, 1998) and in many catalogs issued by galleries and museums. His nude and semi-nude photographic portraits of young girls were published in the book States of Grace (Ophelia Editions, 1992). Ovenden is an artist, photographer, photo historian and collector of Victorian photography.

They were given the name 'Ruralists' by writer Laurie Lee. The Brotherhood is still extant, although three members have left in 2005 it had a major London exhibition at the Leicester Galleries. Ovenden was a founder of the Brotherhood of Ruralists in 1975, along with Graham Arnold, Ann Arnold, Sir Peter Blake, David Inshaw, Annie Ovenden and Jann Haworth.

Since then he has been constructing a neo- Gothic building, 'Barley Splatt' near Bodmin in Cornwall. He moved to Cornwall in 1973 with painter Annie Ovenden and their family. One of his most important teachers was James Sellars, an expert on Samuel Palmer. He attended the Southampton School of Art, and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1968.

He was tutored by Lord David Cecil and Sir John Betjeman. Ovenden was a student at the Royal College of Music, before taking up painting around 1962. Born in New Alresford into a Fabian household, Ovenden attended Itchen Grammar School (1954-59) and was taught music privately by Albert Ketelbey.

Pre Raphaelite Photography by Graham Ovenden