Roger Mayne was a photo-journalist whose record of urban life in the 1950s has long been considered an essential chronicle of post-war Britain.
His most famous photographs were of Southam Street, London W10, the road that I was born into and lived in until 1959. The iconic status of Roger’s work was established when one of his photographs was on the dust jacket of ‘Absolute Beginners’, the 1959 book by Colin MacInnes that ushered in the Swinging Sixties. Subsequent exhibitions, most famously at the V&A and the use of his images by bands like the Smiths added lustre to that status.
Roger wrote to me in 2009 when I mentioned in a Guardian interview that I grew up in Southam Street and a couple of years later he gave me permission to reproduce some of his photos in my childhood memoir ‘This Boy’. Roger died in 2014 and his daughter Katkin looks after his legacy.
The Courtauld at Somerset House in London is exhibiting Roger Mayne’s work until September 1st. It’s the first time the famous London gallery, which houses so many treasured paintings, has held a photographic exhibition. Here I am with Katkin at the gallery where I filmed a promotional video. I’ll put that up on the website when it’s ready. Meanwhile, if you’re in London this month and want to see what all the fuss is about, please do pay a visit to the Courtauld.
