Nic Barlow at home in Gloucestershire on August 24, 2022 with one of his paintings
Nic Barlow was a very dear friend. But most importantly he was a fabulous photographer, a garden specialist and also a great portraitist. His warmth, extravagant tastes, unusual clothes brought him the sympathy of all sitters. He left us last Tuesday, August 1, at 72, peacefully in his sleep in his beautiful house of Stancombe Park, Gloucestershire. He liked to say that Prince Charles had visited it before buying Highgrove. His Austrian mother had perfected the gardens which can vie visited on demand, and he had restored the Temple, a miraculous little house on a lake which he rented to honeymooners. He also developed follies in the park with a Chinese pavilion and entirely redecorated the house with the imagination of an artist.
The Temple at Stancombe Park can be rented for honeymoons
I had met him at Vogue Hommes for which he took pictures in England while doing reporting with Meredith Etherington Smith, our then formidable correspondent. We had travelled together to Sydney where we interviewed Peter Weir (b.1944) the star director of “The Year of living dangerously” with Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver. We did a series of interviews in Great Britain, of people who mattered and photographed Virgin’s beloved founder Richard Branson, who was living on a boat in Little Venice, in London. We covered numerous restaurants and castles owners, went to Ayers Rock Australia and he was one of the first photographers to report on Aboriginal art in Papunya in 1982. His perfect education at Eton did not prevent him to have great inventiveness and multiple ideas which he developed in all directions.
Nic visiting Luis Barragan’s house in Mexico City, photo Woody Campbell
His passion for people led him to cook a lot and become passionate with food from all countries. One of his personal projects had been to ask each one of his close friends to send a recipe and he published it with their portrait. This gallery of faces was completely international with Austrians, Italians, French and Gloucestershire neighbors. He used to live in Holland Park and decided to move to a three story house on Spitalfields market when the East of London was not yet trendy. There, he printed his own photographs, using all kinds of computer devices to enhance them. His website is still active, maintained by his nephews Harry and Edge Llewellyn who also now run the property. His books on “Eton”, “Follies in Europe” and other gardens are also available.
Laure portrayed by Nic Barlow in Paris for his cookbook by friends
Stancombe Park was his passion and for his 50 th birthday he had organized a Grand Meaulnes party around the Temple and the lake. It was a mix of great elegance and bohemian chic with unusual cocktails and food. His friends were totally dedicated to him.
Nic was uniquely generous and great fun to be around whether traveling in Mexico to Oaxaca or trying to do a health diet in Saint Malo. He never missed a party and travelled extensively to be with his friends. He will be deeply missed but his wonderful photographs remain. .
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5 Comments on “Nic Barlow, a photographer at heart, has left us”
I tried to go to his website, (https://http://nicbarlow.com) but unfortunately it has seemed to become expired!
Beat Keerl
to Harry and Edge Llewellyn, can I help I am an artist and web programer.
Very sad to discover news of Nic’s passing.
We met in 1982 in Jersey, while (hilariously) photographing Gerald Durrell and kept in touch intermittently afterwards; the last time probably around 20 years ago.
Went to a few of his parties and visited beautiful Stancombe Park; experiences never to be forgotten.
A very kind and generous human being, I’m sure, missed by many.
Just received the sad news from Nic’s sister, we were at school together and kept in touch. Thank goodness for return addresses on the back of Christmas cards! Missing him terribly.
So sorry to hear of Nic’s passing. We met in Turkey in 1988 and kept in touch over the years, often staying at his home in Holland Park. We’d make music mixes that we sent to each other and I had the pleasure of meeting many of Nic’s friends at his parties. Great bon viveur, generous to a fault, he will be very sadly missed and I will always treasure the cards and tapes he sent me. Sleep well, my old pal. X
Sorting through a bookcase earlier today I came across a copy of the 1981 British Journal of Photography Annual, emblazoned with Nic’s front cover photograph that I had commissioned and was promoted to look him up on-line and, thus, discovered your obituary to him. Very sad to read about his death at the relatively young age of 72.
It was the early summer of 1980 that he bounded into my office clutching his portfolio, filling the drab room with his enthusiasm and good cheer. Nic undertook several other commissions on various publications I was designing in the early 80’s and we kept in-contact for while and lunched together occasionally. I can still see his look of abject horror when I confessed that I enjoyed eating McDonald’s!