Cathy's Art Diary

Fascinating exhibition at the   Photographers’ Gallery on the life and work of the photojournalist Bert Hardy. I went into the show not thinking I knew any of his work but was immediately greeted by an image of two girls on the seafront at Blackpool which I remember from many book covers and friends rooms at college. I laughed out loud when I read his comment on it from 1985 “People who have hardly ever heard of me will suddenly remember that picture. That’s me” and it was me too! From that moment I was hooked. Hardy was a pioneering photojournalist working for Picture Post from two years after its foundation in 1958. The journal aimed to explore social issues and he worked for them in the UK and abroad. I loved his clear, well-constructed images particularly those framed in doorways. I was fascinated by his work in the Second World War working for the Army Film and Photographic Unit. He landed in Normandy three days after D-Day and went into Bergen-Belsen a few days after l...

Selling exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery of work by Picture Post photographer Bert Hardy. Hardy worked in England in the 1940s and 50s and there were some wonderful images in this show. I loved a set of pictures of the Pool of London just before it was about to change in a series called “Life of an East End Parson”. I also liked a picture of a couple on a sofa where she had her feet propped in the window ledge, it was a picture of love and comfort. There was a great almost abstract image of the Queen’s wedding taken from above the bride and bridesmaids and a delightful picture of two children hand in hand against a large archway in the Gorbals. Closed 3 July 2016.