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Westbourne Park Tube Station

Photograph
1967 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Charlie Phillips moved to London from Jamaica in 1956 and began to document life in his local community, taking photographs with a Kodak Brownie camera he had been given by a black American serviceman. Phillips lived in Notting Hill, an area of London with a large British Caribbean community following the mass migration from the Caribbean in the immediate post-war period. His photographs form a visual record of this part of London during the 1960s, especially the growing black population and its impact on local culture.

The V&A acquired ten photographs by Charlie Phillips as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleWestbourne Park Tube Station (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin silver print
Brief description
Photograph by Charlie Phillips, 'Westbourne Park Tube Station', gelatin silver print, London, 1967
Physical description
A black and white photograph of a black man standing in front of a London Underground sign for Westbourne Park tube station. He stands in the centre of the image with his hands on his hips, wearing sunglasses and a blazer. On the wall behind him, as well as the large London Underground sign, there are two posters; the first has the title ‘ROUNDABOUT’ and the second ‘THE LONDON OF CHARLES DICKENS’.
Dimensions
  • Image size width: 302mm
  • Image size height: 210mm
  • Paper size width: 403mm
  • Paper size height: 300mm
Style
Gallery label
(16/02/2015-24/05/2015)
Text label for the exhibition, 'Staying Power: Photographs of Black British Experience, 1950s-1990s
16 February – 24 May 2015

Charlie Phillips (born 1944)
Portobello Road, 1974
Westbourne Park Tube Station, 1967
Notting Hill Couple, 1967
The Pisshouse Pub, 1969
Big Maybelle, Cue Club, 1966
Cue Club Regulars, 1966

Phillips moved from Jamaica to Notting Hill in 1956.
This area of London had a large Caribbean community
following mass migration after the Second World War.
Phillips documented local life using a Kodak Brownie
camera that he had been given by an African-American
serviceman. His photographs provide a visual record of the
influence of the growing black population on this part of
London during the 1960s and ’70s.

Gelatin silver prints
Museum nos. E.260, 261, 264, 266 to 268-2011
Credit line
Supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Object history
The V&A acquired this photograph as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.
Subjects depicted
Association
Summary
Charlie Phillips moved to London from Jamaica in 1956 and began to document life in his local community, taking photographs with a Kodak Brownie camera he had been given by a black American serviceman. Phillips lived in Notting Hill, an area of London with a large British Caribbean community following the mass migration from the Caribbean in the immediate post-war period. His photographs form a visual record of this part of London during the 1960s, especially the growing black population and its impact on local culture.

The V&A acquired ten photographs by Charlie Phillips as part of the Staying Power project. Staying Power is a five year partnership between the V&A and Black Cultural Archives. The project aims to explore black British experience from the 1950s to the 1990s through photographs acquired by the V&A and oral histories conducted by Black Cultural Archives.
Associated objects
Bibliographic reference
Phillips, Charlie and Mike Phillips. Notting Hill in the Sixties. (London: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, 1991, ISBN 0 85315 751 0)
Collection
Accession number
E.266-2011

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Record createdJuly 12, 2011
Record URL
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