John Maynard Keynes & Lydia Lopokova

(1883 – 1946, 1892 – 1981)

Economist John Maynard Keynes was a member of the artistic and intellectual circle known as the Bloomsbury Group and served as editor of the Economic Journal from 1912 to 1945. Disagreeing with the nature of the settlement after the First World War, and its sense of retribution against Germany, he resigned from the Paris Peace Conference and wrote The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919). His General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936) led to the establishment of “Keynsian economics.” After the Second World War Keynes played a leading part in founding the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank. He was also the first chairman of the Arts Council of Great Britain.

The Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova, one of Diaghilev's principal dancers, made her London debut in 1919 in Massine's La Boutique Fantasque. She and Keynes were married in 1925.

By William Roberts (1895 – 1980)
Oil on canvas, exhibited 1932
National Portrait Gallery, London
© National Portrait Gallery, London