John Deakin's extraordinary documentary photographs are haunting evocations of life on the streets of London, Paris and Rome in the 1950s and 1960s. His eye is a profoundly generous one and his chief focus is on ordinary life. His pictures of dog walkers, priests, nuns and shopkeepers reveal and empathy to tival that of Doisneau and Brassai. Equally intriguing are his depictions of human activity with the participants gone: a vanished vernacular of chalked-up children's games, of graffitied messages of love or anger to the world, street signs, peeling wills, window shutters and shop-front banners - signals from another age. Revealed here is a far broader range of photography than that on which Deakin's reputation has rested so far. But the creative souls and maverick talents that frequented the streets of Soho in its heyday - Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud among them - make their appearance along with anonymous figures and strong faces from Paris and Rome. Both friends and stars appear in Robin Muir's introduction, which describes both Deakin the man and Deakin the artist. Following his death in 1972 his work lay neglected for a number of years and his reputation dwindled. A Maverick Eye restores him to his proper place and one of the great photographers of the postwar period.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
British photographer Deakin (1916-72) has most often been noted for photographing artists who worked in London's Soho area during the 1950s, some of whom included Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, and Frank Auerbach. In addition to his Soho photographs and his employment as a Vogue photographer, this book addresses Deakin's lesser-known photographs of everyday scenes in Paris, London, and Rome. High-quality, full-page reproductions illustrate Deakin's effectiveness in using the shapes and textures found in city streets. By using material from the photographer's correspondence with journalist Dan Farson, Muir also succeeds in penetrating the personal side of Deakin, including his reliance on friends for financial support, his heavy drinking, and his failed efforts at painting and sculpture. A former picture editor of British Vogue and the Sunday Telegraph, Muir has produced a well-documented and nicely illustrated overview of Deakin's career. Though this volume and the earlier John Deakin, for which Muir wrote an introduction and selected the photographs, cover both his portraits and his street photography, the text of the new book focuses more on the latter. Recommended for academic libraries, specialized art collections, and larger public libraries. Eric Linderman, East Cleveland P.L., OH
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Review
Muir has produced a well-documented and nicely illustrated overview of Deakin's career. -- Library Journal, August 2002
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