 Night street in snow Melton Mowbray English Heritage |  Backyard laundry, Islington London 1960 English Heritage |
Bill Brandt, Edwin Smith and Eric de Mare were among the extensively published photographers in Britain in the 1940s and beyond. A name new to me is that of John Gay: an extensive archive of his work is held by English Heritage and published by them in the 2009 book England Observed.
Born Hans Goehler in Germany, he adopted the name of the English playwright in 1939 and published several books, developing a career mainly with journal and advertising photography. Now there is an evident nostalgia of looking back at a lost Britain through his work, but the photographs that most appeal are imbued with a modernist sensibility- a concern with light conditions and a reflection of ideas of form. His German art education, shaped by the Bauhaus, shows through and maybe the photographs they most resemble are the commissioned work of the great Laszlo Moholy-Nagy during his brief sojourn in Britain in the 1930s.
Born Hans Goehler in Germany, he adopted the name of the English playwright in 1939 and published several books, developing a career mainly with journal and advertising photography. Now there is an evident nostalgia of looking back at a lost Britain through his work, but the photographs that most appeal are imbued with a modernist sensibility- a concern with light conditions and a reflection of ideas of form. His German art education, shaped by the Bauhaus, shows through and maybe the photographs they most resemble are the commissioned work of the great Laszlo Moholy-Nagy during his brief sojourn in Britain in the 1930s.