Vin in Chair
Photograph
2002 (photographed)
2002 (photographed)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Photographer Charlie Phillips moved to London from Jamaica in 1956 and began to document his Notting Hill community. His photographs are a visual record of city life and local heroes, showing the impact of the black population on British culture.
London’s music scene increasingly featured the American and Caribbean sounds of soul, funk, reggae and ska during the 1960s. The Jamaican sound system concept was a popular vehicle for this music, in which crews of DJs and MCs led by a sound system operator played the latest records on large custom-built speaker systems. Starting at British Caribbean house parties and then taking residency at clubs, British sound systems, and the sound clash events in which the system crews competed, gained a strong following.
Vincent Forbes, known by the stage name ‘Duke Vin’ (1928-2012), was one of the first and most popular sound system operators in Britain. He moved to England in 1954 and created his sound system a year later, building on experience he had gained working as a DJ in Kingston, Jamaica as part of Tom ‘the Great Sebastian’ Wong’s renowned sound system.
The V&A acquired ten photographs by Charlie Phillips as part of the Staying Power project. This selection includes photographs of the Cue Club owned by Duke Vin’s rival Count Suckle. Photographs by Dennis Morris of sound systems in the 1970s were also acquired. 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.
London’s music scene increasingly featured the American and Caribbean sounds of soul, funk, reggae and ska during the 1960s. The Jamaican sound system concept was a popular vehicle for this music, in which crews of DJs and MCs led by a sound system operator played the latest records on large custom-built speaker systems. Starting at British Caribbean house parties and then taking residency at clubs, British sound systems, and the sound clash events in which the system crews competed, gained a strong following.
Vincent Forbes, known by the stage name ‘Duke Vin’ (1928-2012), was one of the first and most popular sound system operators in Britain. He moved to England in 1954 and created his sound system a year later, building on experience he had gained working as a DJ in Kingston, Jamaica as part of Tom ‘the Great Sebastian’ Wong’s renowned sound system.
The V&A acquired ten photographs by Charlie Phillips as part of the Staying Power project. This selection includes photographs of the Cue Club owned by Duke Vin’s rival Count Suckle. Photographs by Dennis Morris of sound systems in the 1970s were also acquired. 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.
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Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Vin in Chair (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Gelatin silver print |
| Brief description | Photograph by Charlie Phillips, 'Vin in Chair', gelatin silver print, 2002 |
| Physical description | A black and white photograph of an elderly black man sitting on a white garden chair looking directly into the camera. He is sat against the outside of a house underneath a window with bottles of beer lined along the ledge. He is tilting back slightly in the chair and is holding a selection of 12 inch records. |
| Dimensions |
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| 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 | Photographer Charlie Phillips moved to London from Jamaica in 1956 and began to document his Notting Hill community. His photographs are a visual record of city life and local heroes, showing the impact of the black population on British culture. London’s music scene increasingly featured the American and Caribbean sounds of soul, funk, reggae and ska during the 1960s. The Jamaican sound system concept was a popular vehicle for this music, in which crews of DJs and MCs led by a sound system operator played the latest records on large custom-built speaker systems. Starting at British Caribbean house parties and then taking residency at clubs, British sound systems, and the sound clash events in which the system crews competed, gained a strong following. Vincent Forbes, known by the stage name ‘Duke Vin’ (1928-2012), was one of the first and most popular sound system operators in Britain. He moved to England in 1954 and created his sound system a year later, building on experience he had gained working as a DJ in Kingston, Jamaica as part of Tom ‘the Great Sebastian’ Wong’s renowned sound system. The V&A acquired ten photographs by Charlie Phillips as part of the Staying Power project. This selection includes photographs of the Cue Club owned by Duke Vin’s rival Count Suckle. Photographs by Dennis Morris of sound systems in the 1970s were also acquired. 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 | "The early sound systems were basic affairs built around a single record deck a valve amp and a speaker. But by the 1950’s they had grown to purpose built speakers the size of wardrobes that could be heard many blocks away. The larger these systems the better. Record producer Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee would remember from the time “sound system was like our radio station…not many people on the island would own a wireless, so it was the way for the people to hear their music”. These ‘House of Joys’ as they were affectionately known were run by the likes of Tom the Great Sebastian who would have people like the legendary Duke Vin [who would go on to be the first system operator in England when he emigrated 3 years later] spinning his tunes." - Unknown source |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.263-2011 |
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| Record created | July 12, 2011 |
| Record URL |
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