Madame Yevonde continued working almost exclusively in colour right through to the end of the decade, despite the looming threat of war, resonances of which crept increasingly into her work. In spite of the gathering storm clouds, and the loss of her husband from cancer in 1939, her output continued unabated until the outbreak of war finally brought about the closure of the VIVEX manufacturing and processing plant on which she was totally dependent for all her colour needs. For Madame Yevonde, this was a bitter blow, bringing to an abrupt end a period of the most intensely dedicated and uniquely creative pioneering work in the whole history of colour photography. It was, quite simply, the end of an era.

With the loss of the VIVEX process in which she had invested so much, Madame Yevonde was forced to revert to the black-and-white photography on which she had all but turned her back in the previous decade. Despite the nightly air raids, she continued working in London until she was bombed out of her London flat and took refuge in a small cottage in the country just to the south of London. Here she set up a small studio for the weekends, and travelled up to the Berkeley Square studio every day, determined not to be beaten.

At the end of the war, she moved back into London again and continued to work at the Berkeley Square studio, with all its memories of happier times. VIVEX, however, was dead and buried, and although other colour processes became available in time, Madame Yevonde very rarely used them, deeming them all far too crude in comparison with VIVEX.