DAVID HURN PHOTOGRAPHS 1955 - 2022
RRB PHOTOBOOKS BRISTOL
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Prospect Cottage overlooks the River Wye in Tintern. Its proximity to the water is a reminder of movement and the constant flow of time. The interior of this 300yr old cottage feels somewhat stiller, full of the objects and images set amongst the thick stone walls, all assembled through 65 years of activity, encounter and experience. David Hurn moved here in 1972, returning to Wales, the land of his ‘forefathers’, from London where he had been living for 20 years. At this stage in his career, the decision to move to Tintern was formative, disentangling himself from the frenetic social and commercial worlds he was a part of in the capital, to focus on his ‘personal work’, those self-led pursuits, into the bigger questions he had of himself and the world that surrounded him. An instigating factor for the move was Peter Jones at the Welsh Arts Council who invited Hurn to make work in Wales through a bursary intended to cover a year’s shooting. Starting with a spider’s web of research which mapped topics, people, and areas, all relating to the question of ‘what is Welsh Culture’, Hurn began working, only soon to become entangled in this same web of interests. He vowed to spend 30% of his time working there, he never left. By this point in the early 1970s, Hurn was a member of Magnum Photos Agency (he became a full member in 1967) and already had a visual language which was distinctly his own. Honed through those formative years in London between the 1950s and 1960s, where a merging of his social outlook and artistic aspirations was underpinned by a resolve to earn a living through photography, which at the time was being buoyed by an evolving editorial and commercial market driven by popular periodicals such as The Sunday Times Magazine, Queen Magazine, and Town Magazine. These publications commissioned social realist content, as well as platforming the current trends in fashion, culture and politics, resulting in what Nicholas Coleridge described as ‘tough journalism on shiny paper’. David Hurn was one of a handful of photographers working for these outlets, a loosely associated group profiled in Martin Harrison’s book Young Meteors; “all are British and were in their twenties during the period between 1957 and 1965: that is following the demise of Picture Post and up to the point when three ‘colour supplements’ were established and Nova magazine was launched.” London at this time, in many ways put a spotlight on what was taking place in the country as a whole. Changes in class and demographics through the Windrush generation who arrived from ex-British colonies between 1948 to 1971 brought forth new cultures to the evolving fabric of British society. Furthermore, established ‘British’ customs were colliding with a new modernity hoisted through by the youth movements of the late 1950s and early 1960s which intersected with political shifts of the time such as an end to conscription, the introduction of the contraceptive pill, as well as the easing of post-war austerity in pursuit of more consumerist ideals and outlooks.
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In 1965 Hurn moved into a large flat in Porchester Court Bayswater, London. Not only was it conveniently located but free with facilities, a darkroom, workspace which included mattress beds, and a place for up to date photography gossip. Josef Koudelka and Leonard Freed stayed there of long periods. Koudelka laid out ‘The Gypsies” on the front room table. Phillip Jones Griffiths laid out ‘Vietnam Inc’. Bill Jay edited and laid out issues of Album Magazine, the list of stayers is large including Elliott Erwitt, Charlie Harbutt, Diane Arbus. Paul Strand gave a lecture to 70 in the main sitting room. Latter actors and writers appeared. It was seemingly transcending its origin as a habitation to become an informal cultural space for the blossoming photographic movement in the UK that was unsupported by the mainstream arts venues, but was powerfully expressing itself through the work of its key players. It was a vibrant cultural hub. Today, walking up the staircase at Prospect Cottage puts you straight in contact with these photographers whose ‘language’ had influenced Hurn and photographic culture more broadly. One of the prints set atop the William Morris wallpaper’s swirling leaves is a picture by Chilean Photographer Sergio Larrain. In 1959 at Trafalgar Square whilst photographing pigeons, Hurn was approached by Larrain, who had sought him out based on the assertion that he could ‘tell a serious photographer from the intensity of their gaze’, it was Larrain’s advice to focus on the personal images from the everyday that in many ways validated this new way of seeing which was developing for Hurn, still in his early 20s at the time. Perhaps the images that best illustrate these moments of the mundane coming together were taken at Herne Bay (pg. 9). Captured in these is the collision happening between the youthful teens intoxicated by the dizzying pop-culture spilling from the capital, against the elderly conservative outlooking population often seen in Hurn’s photographs, squinting over at the shiny new generations in bewilderment. “He’s studying Wales,’ Eira said, ‘and he goes to London to do it.” Raymond Williams - Border Country Wales with its strong identity, language and industrial heritage held a place in Britain’s public imagination but it was Hurn’s intention to cut beyond the cliches to photograph it in all its complexities. Previously photographed by visitors such as Bruce Davidson, Robert Frank and Eugene Smith, Hurn was returning with a sensibility earnt from someone connected to the country by heritage. Presented in this book are some of the early Welsh pictures. We see inhabitants, human and animal, both with their distinctive idiosyncrasies and characteristics parading through both the green and industrial landscapes of wales. The native sheep play an important role, often spoken for and caricatured by English tropes, they reclaim their image through Hurn’s endearingly yielded camera. As are the traditional ceremonies like the Eisteddfodd, or bustling pubs. It is in these images of Wales where both the struggle and spirit of a place comes across so powerfully, in a sense elevating Hurn’s language further and consolidating it as a
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force only to himself as well as dissecting some of the cultural cliches attached to the country. In the cottage’s sitting room, a warm space where the stereo often emanates Chet Baker or the television rumbles away with news or sporting events, sits a by Welsh painter John Selway depicting a Belgian Bar. This painting has a jug of flowers placed directly in front of it, the arranged bouquet of daisies (similar to ones clutched by the young girl photographed on pg.14 who happens to be the painter’s daughter - NOT SURE WHICH IMAGE THIS IS?. Selway’s painting sits atop the boulderous stones stacked to anchor the cottage. In 1973 Hurn set up the school of Documentary Photography in Newport. Wales, in the throes of de-industrial policies of the period, was seeing high rates of unemployment, and teaching photography as a vocation was invested in to diversify the jobmarket. Learning from examples set by the best photographers in the field, pragmatic key practices around making images and photographic stories, as well as the establishing of strong links to the surrounding communities, was the course’s hallmark. Traces of the course are even held in the physical memory of the cottage. Chris Chapman, a student in 1974 stripped back the plaster to the original stone work, which Selway’s painting now rests on. Then in reverse, the front of the cottage was plastered by Paul Reas, who was a brick-layer by profession before joining the course in 1982 (he later became the course leader until 2020). On page (89) we see a group photograph being arranged by a young girl under the guidance of a woman to the right of the frame. This is Sue Packer, another photographer that rose up from the Documentary Photography course, possibly one of Britain’s most unsung greats of portraiture. The decision by Hurn to step behind the image being constructed, to place the image within an image, on one hand feels a crafty punchline on the frivolities of social customs and how the camera plays a role within that - but another reading could be Hurn’s watchful eye over the artist Sue Packer in thought and in one’s element. Always one to praise the work of those he finds great, to the top of the landing outside of Hurn’s bedroom, sits a grid of greats, nestled between Eugene Smith and Koudelka, is a portrait by Sue Packer. Well represented in this book are the many images from trips abroad. In 1979-80 Hurn was awarded a UK/USA Bicentennial Fellowship, a one-year award to photograph in America. He chose to visit Arizona; “It was the most right-wing state in America and Wales at the time was probably the most left-wing part of the UK. Also it’s the driest state in America and Wales is probably the wettest.” As well as those contrasting factors, his decision would also have been informed by the fact his close friend Bill Jay had just founded the Photographic Studies program at Arizona State University. Again, here we see the content of Hurn’s work instigated by the relationships in his life as well as gravitating towards the pervading cultural aspects of a place, the things we might expect to see. However, he shows us through images that what we imagine is rarely as complex and extraordinary as what the world ‘as it is’ can reveal to us through photographs. He hones in on Dolly Parton look-alikes, wild-west scenarios, and Halloween celebrations, but was also drawn to aspects of care such as elderly residential homes, and hospital treatments. The
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later trips to America were in the early 2000s, and this was also a time in which David had his own medical treatment, a cancer diagnosis that was discovered early enough to treat, under the auspices of the lens-based technology (his colonoscopy is still referred to as his most significant photograph to date). Hurn started photography in the army when he saw a picture in Picture Post, it was of a Russian Officer buying his wife a hat in a department store, a simple act that when photographed countered the de-humanising narratives presented of Russian’s depicted during the cold-war period by western media-outlets. - it brought back memories of Hurn’s father returning after the Second World War and buying Hurn’s mother a hat in Howles, a department store in Cardiff. Hurn realised that a photograph had the power to create emotion and counteract propaganda, he decided “he wanted a bit of that” and has since kept to his rigid mantra “Life as it unfolds in front of the camera is full of so much complexity, wonder and surprise, that I find it unnecessary to create new realities. There is more pleasure, for me, in things as they are”, thus if photography were divided into fiction and non-fiction Hurn is firmly on the side of non-fiction. Not all developments in tech have proved bad for Hurn, who in recent years has utilised Instagram to share over 400+ images from his archive alongside eloquently written texts grappling with still arising questions that he has of the world and photography’s relation to it. In the cottage sitting on a corner shelf appears a book entitled; ‘Instagram for Dummies’. There is a telling pragmatism and trust in the ability to learn through application. Something that has changed over the years though is Tintern. The place he’s called home for 40+ years has seen shifts to its demographic, rising house-prices and commuters from Bristol and Cardiff, in many ways chipping away at the village’s essence and cohesion. However, as his later photographs of the village throughout the 2010s attest to, there is still a community unit which Hurn has diligently continued to record for his archive. On the one hand Hurn’s images are fixed into the collective spirit of photography in this country, but on the other, little feels ‘fixed’ within a David Hurn image. The free-flowing movements and gestures observed from life as it unfolds, has been one of his major preoccupations over a career spanning 65 years and one that ensures him a place alongside the greats. In 2021 he received a Lucie Award for lifetime contributions to photography, joining the ranks of Mary Ellen-Mark, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Gordon Parks. That trust in being present, and constantly curious about the world and people that surrounds him, has amounted to a fascinating record of ‘things he has seen’ with a close affinity to a line in Wordsworth’s poem made whilst on a visit to Tintern; “With an eye made quiet by the power of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things.”
Isaac Blease
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2. 1955. ENGLAND. London. Street trader in Oxford Street. One of the first pictures ever taken by David Hurn, shot on a Kodak folding Retina camera. 3. 1956. HUNGARY. Budapest. Hungarian Revolution. A freedom fighter, during a lull in the fighting, he was called “Janok of the Wooden Leg”. 4. 1957. ENGLAND. London. The Partisan Coffee House. A radical venue of the New Left. 5. 1959. USA. California. Point Lobos. The area of many of Edward Weston’s most famous landscape pictures. Visited as a kind of homage. 6a. 1962. USA. New York. 42nd Street. Notorious vice area of the City. 6b. 1962. USA. New York. Time Square. 7. 1962. USA. New York. Early morning diner. 8. 1963. ENGLAND. London. Nottinghill Gate. The Sisters of Mercy, an international community of Roman Catholic women who vowed to serve people suffering from poverty and sickness and are near death.
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11. 1964. ENGLAND. London. During filming of Beatles film, ‘A Hard Days Night’. George Harrison fan. 12. 1964. GREECE. Corfu. Palaiokastritsa. The market. 13a. 1964. GREECE. Corfu. Palaiokastritsa. Sardine seller. 13b. 1964. GREECE. Corfu. Palaiokastritsa. Street scene. 14. 1964. YUGOSLAVIA (later CROATIA). Dubrovnik. Student in the local school dress reads on the sea front. 15. 1964. ITALY. Venice. St Marks Square. 16. 1964. ITALY. Catalgo. Lovers by the beach huts. 17. 1964. ITALY. Pompeii. Tourists walk by a petrified victim of the Vesuvius eruption. 18. 1964. FRANCE. Cannes. The beach. 19. 1964. FRANCE. Cannes. Film Festival - American Navy good will visit. 20. 1965. ENGLAND. London. Winston Churchill funeral. Wrens in Trafalgar Square.
9a. 1963. ENGLAND. Herne Bay. Seaside holiday resort of mainly the working classes.
21. 1965. ENGLAND. South London. Amateur camera club nude evening.
9b. 1963. ENGLAND. Margate. Youth on the promenade.
22. 1966. WALES. Aberfan. Coal Slip Disaster.
10. 1963. ENGLAND. London. Ballroom Dancing. Hammersmith Palais. The premier dance hall of the time. Waiting to be asked to dance.
23. 1967. ENGLAND. London. Soho flowerpower people.
25. 1967. ENGLAND. London. Queen Charlotte’s Ball was the highlight of what was called “The debutante season” and “coming out”. 26. 1967. ENGLAND. London. British Museum. The Lamentation over the Dead Christ. Workshop of Giovanni Delia Robbia b. 1469.
36. 1972. WALES. Rhyl. Miss Sunny Rhyl beauty competition. 37. 1972. WALES. Rhondda Valley. Miners at the end of their shift. 38. 1972. WALES. Rhondda Valley. Monday wash day.
27a. 1967. ENGLAND. Herne Bay. Family on the beach.
39. 1973. WALES. Cardiff. Bus Stop.
27b. 1967. ENGLAND. London. After Confirmation service.
40. 1973. WALES. Upper Chapel. One of the last examples in Wales of Cottage-cured bacon.
28. 1968. ENGLAND. London. Grosvenor Square, Anti Vietnam demonstration.
41. 1973. WALES. Llanidloes. Last Civic Parade to be held in the town.
29. 1969. ENGLAND. Isle of Wight. Isle of Wight Music Festival.
42. 1973. WALES. Brecon. ‘Tug of War’ at the YFC (Young Farmers Club) meeting.
30. 1970. ENGLAND. London, On the way to a Gay Ball in Bayswater.
43. 1973. WALES. Bargoed. Junior Wales ballroom dancing championships.
31. 1970. SPAIN. Atienza. Cleaning the streets.
44. 1973. WALES. Upper Chapel. Sheep washing.
32a. 1971. WALES. Tylorstown. In the South Wales Valleys.
45. 1973. WALES. Upper Chapel. Local tent Eisteddfod.
32b. 1971. WALES. Barry Island Fun Fair.
46. 1973. WALES. Barry Island. ‘Miners’ week’ the holiday period of the miners of South Wales.
33. 1971. WALES. Aberavon beach. Coach party from The Valleys.
47. 1973. WALES. 1 Mynydd Eppynt. The military artillery range.
34. 1971. WALES. Sennybridge. Pub sing-along.
48. 1973. WALES. 1973. Cardiff. Walkers in the Roath area.
35. 1972. WALES. Brynmill. Drug addiction.
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49. 1974. FRANCE. Paris. New Realist exhibition. 50. 1974. WALES. Tenby. The promenade. 51. 1974. WALES. Laugharne. Cafe with photo of Dylan Thomas. 52. 1974. WALES. Brecon Beacons. Wild pony colt. 53. 1975. WALES. Six Bells. The last Chapel walk. 54. 1976. WALES. Tintern. Tintern Forest. 55. 1976. WALES. Upper Chapel. Children’s sports day.
63b. 1979. USA. Arizona. Tempe. Street scene. Halloween. 64. 1979. USA. Arizona. Phoenix. Pre Christmas Parade. 65. 1979. USA. Arizona. On the road from California to Arizona via Joshua Tree Forest. 66. 1979. USA. Arizona. Phoenix. Dolly Parton look-alike competition.
56. 1977. WALES. Shotton Steel Works. The last pouring.
67a. 1979. USA. Arizona. The desert between Phoenix and Tuscon, housing expansion.
57a. 1978. USA. Arizona. Phoenix. Industrial estate landscaping.
67b. 1979. USA. Arizona. Phoenix. Low Riders meeting on the outskirts of Phoenix.
57b. 1978. USA. Arizona. Phoenix. The road south out of Phoenix, open space for a hundred miles to Tucson.
68. 1980. USA. Arizona. Mesa. Early morning exercise class.
58. 1978. WALES. Cardiff. Miners Gala.
69. 1980. USA. Arizona. Bullhead City. Round-up of the last wild horses in the desert of Arizona.
59. 1978. WALES. Snowdon. The walk to the summit and down. 60. 1979. WALES. Trehafod. The fence is made of old steel rope from the closed Lewis Merthr Pit seen in the background. 61. ????? 62. 1979. USA. Arizona. Tempe. Gay Ball.
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63a. 1979. USA. Arizona. Tempe. Street scene. Halloween.
70. 1980. USA. California. Santa Monica, Venice Beach. 71. 1980. USA. Arizona. Phoenix. Preemie Baby unit at St Joseph’s Hospital. 72. 1980. USA. Arizona. Desert Heat reflector. 73. 1980. USA. Arizona. Painted Desert.
74. 1980. USA. Arizona. Salt City. Tubing on Salt River. 75. 1980. USA. Arizona. Apache junction. Apache baby contest. 76. 1980. USA. Arizona. Fish Ranch. Mexican wedding. The waiting bride. 77. 1980. USA. Arizona. “Cheeks” a ladies only club just outside the city limits of Phoenix. 78. 1981. ENGLAND. London. Watching on TV, in the Mall, wedding of Lady Diana Spencer to Prince Charles.
85. 1985. WALES. Newport. Arts Ball, Gwent College of Higher Education. 86. 1986. WALES. Pwllheli. Baby care unit at Butlins Holiday Camp. 87. 1986. WALES. Cardiff. Members of the chorus of the Welsh National Opera,. 88. 1986. WALES. Cardiff. Dinosaurs from China at the National Museum of Wales. 89. 1987. WALES. Castleton. Christening party photo.
79. 1981. WALES. Barry Island.
90. 1989. WALES. Porth. Mine rescue team. Mine fire.
80a. 1982. FRANCE. Versailles, re-photographing a picture by Atget.
91. 1989. WALES. Tenby. Mannequin in traditional Welsh costume.
80b. 1982. FRANCE. Gien by the Loire. Evening dancing on the beach.
92. 1991. USA. California. Palm Springs. ‘Spring Break’.
81. 1983. WALES. Tintern. Garden. 82. 1983. WALES. Llandderfel. Sheepdog trials. 83a. 1984. IRELAND. Killarney. Bar. 83b. 1984. IRELAND. Killarney. Petrol station. 84a. 1984. IRELAND. Killarney. Puck Fair held in Killorglin. 84b. 1986. WALES. Barry Island beach. Beach cricket.
93. 1992. USA. Arizona. Phoenix. State fair. Armadillos on show. 94. 1992. USA. Arizona. Phoenix. Over 60’s night at the ‘Great Skate’ rink. 95. 1992. USA. Arizona. Winter cactus garden. Paper cups to protect against night frosts. 96. 1992. USA. Arizona. Mesa. Backyard Barbie Doll washing line. 97. 1992. WALES. Snowdon. The Summit.
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98. 1993. WALES. Neath Valley. Black Mountain Coal. Miners have lunch underground. 99. 1993. WALES. Neath Valley. Black Mountain Coal. Rest room. 100. 1993. ENGLAND. London. Private gallery lunch. 101a. 1993. WALES. Cardiff. National Museum of Wales. Redesigning of the galleries. Rodins St John the Baptist faces Eve. 101b. 1994. ENGLAND. London. The Royal Caledonian Ball. 102. 1994. WALES. Usk. Ladies night out in the local pub. 103. 1996. WALES. Bridgend. The Ford engine plant. 104. 1996. WALES. Llandovery. Churchyard maintenance. 105. 1997. USA. Arizona. Winter Range, Phoenix. The National Old West Shooting Competition. 106. 1997. WALES. Blaenafon. Bus stop for the Big Tip: National Coal Museum. 107. 1997. WALES. Snowdonia. Sheep shearing. 108. 1997. WALES. Rhyl. Sea Front?
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110. 1997. USA. Arizona. Phoenix. Veterans Day Parade. 111. 1997. USA. Arizona. Scottsdale. Garden Saguaro Cactus with a shadow. 112. 1997. USA. Arizona. Fountain Hills. Parade. The Daughters of the American Revolution. 113a. 1998. WALES. Barmouth. Chuck’s American Diner. 113b. 1998. WALES. Tredegar. Youth training, examining Circuit Board. 114. 1999. WALES. Penpac. Boundry fence of refuse transfere site. 115. 1999. WALES. Machynlleth. The grave stone reparation. 116. 2000. WALES. Cardiff. Butetown, school during playtime. 117. 2002. USA. Arizona. Tempe. Cemetry flodded at the time that the district gardens are watered. 118. 2004. WALES. Porth Oer (Whistling Sands). 119. 2004. WALES. Cardiff. Christmas shopping central Cardiff.
109a. 1997. WALES. Rhyl. Snack bar.
120. 2006. USA. California. The Original Dog Beach in San Diego. The disabled area.
109b. 1997. WALES. Rhyl. Fast food.
121. 2007. USA. New York. Street entertainer.
122. 2011. SWEDEN. Stockholm. Water front, Gamla Stan. 123. 2014. WALES. Abergavenny. Alison Todd hat shop tea party. 124. 2014. SWEDEN. Stockholm. Christmas. 125. 2015. WALES. Blackwood. Sports and leisure centre. 126. 2016. WALES. North Wales. View from car. 127. 2019. ITALY. Viaggerio. Carnival. 128. 2019. ITALY. Venice. Carnival Ball week. 129. 2022. WALES. Dan-yr-Ogof. Dinosaur Park. The new future.
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I thank all I have gazed at especially as none have ever voiced anything but amusement.
RRB Photobooks, May 2023 Images © David Hurn / Magnum Photos 2023 Text by Isaac Blease Design and Layout by Jessamine Thoemmes-Tondowski Printed at Narayana Press, Denmark ISBN 978-1-123456-12-0 rrbphotobooks.com