Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case X, Shelf 921, Box E

Photograph

ca. 1954 (made)
Artist/Maker
Deakin, John (photographer)
Place of origin
Great Britain (made)

Paris, Flea Market Bistro, by John Deakin (British, 1912-1972); gelatin-silver print;


Object details

Categories
Images Online
Photographs
SCRAN
Object type
Photograph
Materials and techniques
photography
Paper
Gelatin Silver Process
Brief description
Paris, Flea Market Bistro, by John Deakin (British, 1912-1972); gelatin-silver print; Britain; ca.1954.
Physical description
Paris, Flea Market Bistro, by John Deakin (British, 1912-1972); gelatin-silver print;
Dimensions
  • Image height: 30cm
  • Image width: 37.5cm
  • Paper height: 30cm
  • Paper width: 37.5cm
Gallery label
  • Deakin received critical acclaim for his photographs of Parisian street life. A contemporary review in The Times said: ‘Mr Deakin has an astonishing eye for the peculiar hidden in the ordinary: where the casual observer sees only a shop-front or the façade of a house, Mr Deakin sees one side of Alice’s looking glass, and the infinite mysteries that lie behind it’. (20/11/2012)
  • Gallery 100, ‘History of photography’, 2012-2013, label texts : John Deakin (1912 – 72) ‘Paris, Flea Market Bistro’ 1954 Deakin received critical acclaim for his photographs of Parisian street life. A contemporary review in The Times said: ‘Mr Deakin has an astonishing eye for the peculiar hidden in the ordinary: where the casual observer sees only a shop-front or the façade of a house, Mr Deakin sees one side of Alice’s looking glass, and the infinite mysteries that lie behind it’. Gelatin silver print Museum no. Ph.86-1984 (11 03 2014)
Credit line
Copyright John Deakin Archive
Object history
John Deakin made portraits of celebrities and of his bohemian circle of friends in London's Soho in the early 1950's. Deakin wanted to be a painter rather than a photographer and neglected his photographs: the majority have been destroyed or damaged. In part, his attitude reflected the general status of photography in Britain in the 1950's, as an undervalued artistic medium. After his dismissal from Vogue he photographed street scenes in Paris and Rome. Deakin’s reputation was re-evaluated following an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1984.
Subject depicted
Flea Market
Place depicted
Paris
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
PH.86-1984

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Record createdJanuary 13, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O72920/photograph-deakin-john/
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