Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case SP, Shelf 4

The Pisshouse Pub

Photograph
1969 (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. His photographs of people and places associated with Notting Hill depict both significant and everyday moments in the area’s history, particularly in relation to its growing black population. The local landmark of the ‘Pisshouse Pub’ on the corner of Blenheim Crescent and Portobello Road is a frequent setting in this visual history. At a time of racial hostility in Britain, Phillips created a record of multicultural community.

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
TitleThe Pisshouse Pub (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin silver print
Brief description
Photograph by Charlie Phillips, 'The Pisshouse Pub', gelatin silver print, London, 1969
Physical description
A black and white photograph of a black man in a suit and porkpie hat leaning over an elderly white woman who is sat at a table in a pub, his arms on her shoulders. We cannot see the face of the man as he is turned kissing the head of the woman, who is wearing large glasses and smiling. She wears a leopard print fur coat and holds a half-drunk glass on the table in front of her.
Dimensions
  • Image size height: 193mm
  • Image size width: 292mm
  • Paper size width: 305mm
  • Paper size height: 255mm
Style
Gallery label
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(16/02/2015-24/05/2015)
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
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. His photographs of people and places associated with Notting Hill depict both significant and everyday moments in the area’s history, particularly in relation to its growing black population. The local landmark of the ‘Pisshouse Pub’ on the corner of Blenheim Crescent and Portobello Road is a frequent setting in this visual history. At a time of racial hostility in Britain, Phillips created a record of multicultural community.

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.261-2011

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Record createdJuly 12, 2011
Record URL
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