(Pictured) A set of 6 silver gelatin prints by Roger Mayne with several spreads from Uppercase Magazine (1961).

Roger Mayne moved from Leeds to London in 1954 and began documenting life as he saw it on the streets. He gravitated towards communities in the inner-city areas and between 1956 to 1961 focused on Southam Street in North Kensington – as well as later photographing in St. Stephen’s Gardens near Notting Hill.

In these photographs Mayne observes the social interactions happening within the raw settings of the deteriorating terraces which contrasted with the vitality of the residents, particularly the children and young people playing in the streets. He was an early advocate for photography as an artform and whilst these pictures chart economic shifts and social changes happening in the city during the postwar era, they are also experiments with form, movement, composition, and his own subjective and humanitarian voice as an artist.

A selection of these images was published in the art and design journal Uppercase 5. Shown over 55 pages, the energetic photographs show footballs being booted, graffiti scrawled and cart-wheels spun in a set of photographs that went on to influence many generations of photographers in Britain.

Also, included within the MPF collection are personal pictures made of friends and family, such as the children of artist and photographer Nigel Henderson who influenced Mayne’s first forays into independent photographic work.

The MPF library includes a number of publications and ephemera relating to the work of Roger Mayne.

Medium
Silver gelatin ( vintage)

Dimensions
24.8h x 21.7w – 61w x 48h cm

Prints
36

Dates
1954 – 1961