Celebrated photographer and Twin girl Jane Bown sadly died, aged 89, on Sunday 21 December. She joined The Observer in 1949 and went on to photograph the Queen, the Beatles, Richard Nixon, and other key figures of the 20th century. Several of her pictures hang in the National Portrait Gallery.

Quoting from her interview in Twin issue X [believed to be her last ever], Bown said, ‘I’ve never wanted to take a bad picture of anybody.’ Such a simple ethos is much at odds with our current society of paparazzi and bare-all celebrity. No wonder her sharply beautiful portraits continue to hold a sense of wonder for us all today.

Tags: death, Jane Bown, Observer, Photographer