A modern icon: the Christine Keeler photograph

The photograph

There is an urban myth that this photograph of Christine Keeler astride an Arne Jacobson chair was taken when she was a model, but it is false in more senses than one. Firstly, the chair used in the photo turns out to be a copy of the original. The hand-hold aperture cut out of the back was a ploy to avoid the legalities of copyright.

Secondly. the photograph was taken, not on a modelling session, but at the height of the revelations regarding the exposure, of the relationship between the Secretary of State for War (John Profumo) and a young woman, caught up in an affair that became known as 'The Scandal' or 'The Profumo Affair'.

Photographer Lewis Morley recalls the photo session that led to the creation of a modern icon:

'This photograph was one of a series of publicity shots for an intended film which never saw the light of day. It was not until 1989 that a film of the 1963 happenings was released under the title Scandal. The photographic session took place in my studio, which at that time was on the first floor of The Establishment , a satirical night club, part-owned by Peter Cook of Beyond The Fringe fame. The satirical sketches took place on a small stage on the ground floor of the club. The Dudley Moore Trio played jazz in the basement.

'During the session, three rolls of 120 film were shot. The first two rolls had Christine sitting in various positions on the chair and on the floor, dressed in a small leather jerkin. It was at this point that the film producers who were in attendance demanded she strip for some nude photos. Christine was reluctant to do so, but the producers insisted, saying that it was written in her contract. The situation became rather tense and reached an impasse. I suggested that everyone, including my assistant leave the studio. I turned my back to Christine, telling her to disrobe, sit back to front on the chair. She was now nude, fulfilling the conditions of the contract, but was at the same time hidden.

'We repeated some of the poses used on the previous two rolls of film. I rapidly exposed some fresh positions, some angled from the side and a few slightly looking down. I felt that I had had shot enough and took a couple of paces back. Looking up, I saw what appeared to be a perfect positioning. I released the shutter one more time, in fact, it was the last exposure on the roll of film. Looking at the contact sheet, one can see that this image is smaller than the rest because I had stepped back. It was this pose that became the first published and most used image. The nude session had taken less than five minutes to complete. It wasn't until I developed the film that I discovered that somehow I had misfired one shot and there were only eleven images on a twelve exposure film. How this came about is a mystery to me.

'Another mystery is why the "classic image" has attained such a worldwide exposure in all venues -  newspapers, magazines, films and advertising; eclipsed perhaps only by Korda's photograph of Che ... the difference being that Korda's photo was reproduced on all manner of merchandising, T-shirts, propaganda leaflets, protest march banners and whenever the word "Revolution" appeared, but the image was used without alteration, remaining true to the original.

'In the case of the Keeler photograph, no sooner had it been published (without my permission, in a Sunday tabloid) it was parodied and plagiarised.

'I photographed David Frost in the Keeler position on the Keeler chair for That Was The Week That Was, the BBC's weekly satirical programme produced by Ned Sherrin and hosted by David Frost (I was the official photographer for the series run). Gerald Scarfe used one of the other positions on the roll (the side-saddle pose) to lampoon Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

'It might be right to explain that the use of a chair turned back to front for the purpose of posing was a device instigated at the outset of photographic portraiture.

'Because of the need to remain motionless for long periods of exposure that was demanded in those early days, before fast films could capture the decisive moment, the sitter had to be in a position of relative comfort whilst keeping still (post head-clamp period). As a matter of fact there were chairs with padded tops to the back rest specifically constructed for this purpose.

'I came across a self-portrait on this selfsame chair in the Keeler position, taken in 1962, a full twelve months before the Keeler photograph was taken. So the parodying actually started before the parodying if you get what I mean. It has been plagiarised, lampooned, copied photographically, drawn and even painted.

'There have been good, bad and indifferent rip-offs of the Keeler images. Too many examples to mention?

'Yes ! But there is one exception which caught my fancy ... Flattered ? Yes. (It's like the dream of all those Hollywood stars fighting to appear on Sesame Street) .... Homer Simpson assumes the pose .... '

A more recent sitter for Lewis Morley, Dame Edna Everage, explains the appeal of this iconic pose.

'I've always known how to sit modestly in a chair, which is more than you can say for my colleague Sharon Stone. There is only one photographer on the planet who could have persuaded me to take off my clothes and assumed this slightly uncalled for position and that is Lewis Morley.

'Incidentally, I practically adopted him when he was a poor little Chinese war orphan by the name of Lu Mor Lee. Christine Keeler was a bit before my time I'm afraid, but Lewis asked me to sit on the same chair and the result is this raunchy snap.

'Without denigrating little Christine, I think I bring a spooky dignity to this otherwise unacceptable pose. My bosom was never my strongest point and I always thought that, except as a rendezvous for thirsty babies, it was a pretty overrated part of the female anatomy, but my legs have always been my best and most envied feature (apart from my mind) and this portrait really shows them off, don't you think Possums? Eat your heart out Tina Turner!'

The chair

A chair inspired by one of the most successful 20th-century furniture designs is at the centre of the story of one of the Victoria and Albert Museum's most unexpected acquisitions. The chair on which Christine Keeler sat in the celebrated portrait session has been correctly identified as a 'knock-off', or imitation, of the classic Arne Jacobsen model 3107 chair. Photographer Lewis Morley had bought half a dozen of them in a sale at Heal's for five shillings apiece in 1960. The chair is inscribed underneath by Lewis with the many famous sitters who have graced it, including Sir David Frost, Joe Orton and Dame Edna Everage, plus the names of the donors.

Although other museums had expressed a strong interest in the chair it was felt that the V&A had to be the perfect place for the chair for two reasons: because it has great collections of both photography and furniture, and because the chair is a British cultural icon. The chair is a pledged gift from Lewis Morley and John and Laura Knaus on loan from the American Friends of the V&A, Inc.

If you put the chair alongside the Arne Jacobsen original it is possible to see why the 3107 is a classic. As Gareth Williams of the Furniture, Textiles and Fashion department at the V&A points out:

'The plywood is much thicker and less subtly moulded. The cinched "waist" of the chair is more pronounced, and the front of the seat is set back too far. Unlike Jacobsen's chair this model has a cut-out handle at the top of the seat, but even this is inaccurately positioned and irregularly cut.'

Lewis Morley's image has become a classic and as widely imitated as Jacobsen's chair. You can see such chairs in second-hand shops described as 'Keeler chairs'.

If you look closely at the photographs, you can see that the back of the chair has been chafed - just like the one now in the V&A. It is touching, somehow, that the perfect photograph was posed in a flawed chair and that both are now in the Museum.

The V&A would like to acknowledge the generosity of Lewis Morley and the Knaus family for the donation of the photographs and the original chair.