Lord Snowdon was married to Princess Margaret and has taken photographs of Marlene Dietrich, the Queen and fashion’s biggest stars for Vogue, Vanity Fair and the Daily Telegraph. This year, Kent is hosting a rare chance to see some of the photographer’s intimate portraits of the art world’s most famous characters.

When it comes to the world’s premier photographers, they do not come much more celebrated than Lord Snowdon. An exhibition of 67 photographs by the Queen’s former brother-in-law, who began his photographic career in 1951, is coming to Kent.

The shots have captured intimate moments with artists like Henry Moore, Peter Blake, John Piper, Graham Sutherland, David Hockney, Damien Hirst and Grayson Perry.

Taken in the artists’ homes, workplaces or studios, the shots capture the essence of the British art scene from the 1960s to the present.

Many of the images were originally featured in the book Private View, a collection of more than 300 photos by ex-Sunday Times Magazine and Vogue photographer Lord Snowdon, published in 1965.

The former husband of Princess Margaret helped define a decisive period in British art history, when London established itself as an equal to New York and Paris as an artistic capital of the world.

The exhibition, entitled In Camera, also shows how a new generation of artists came to the fore and how Snowdon continued to document these figures of fascination.

The 81-year-old snapper took portraits of contemporary British artists – known in the 1990s as the YBAs, or Young British Artists – including Hirst, Mark Wallinger, the Chapman Brothers, Chris Ofili and Rachel Whiteread.

The original In Camera exhibition was in Chichester and has gone on tour this year. Before this tour, Lord Snowdon’s most recent exhibition was at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London in 2006.

In Camera: Snowdon and the World of British Art is at Tunbridge Wells Museum and Art Gallery from Saturday, January 14, to Saturday, March 3. Admission free. Call 01892 554171.