photographer in July 1947. His work was divided
between fashion, which he did not enjoy and por-
traiture, in which he was to excel. His photo-
graphs were direct and demanded attention
through their unadorned simplicity. In most
cases the contrast of the print increased the sever-
ity of his images. Deakin was entering his busiest
and most creative period as a photographer
though personally and health-wise he was starting
a slow decline. His heavy drinking had inevitably
led to alcoholism and he had thrown himself fully
into London’s Soho drinking culture, frequenting
the bars and clubs populated by the artists, wri-
ters, musicians, and actors of the day as well as
members of the vice and criminal fraternity. His
list of friends (or often just acquaintances)
included important painters such as Lucien
Freud, John Minton, and importantly, Francis
Bacon. Though defended by Withers, Deakin
was not a popular member of theVogue staff.
His drunkenness, rudeness, and lack of regard
forVogueequipment led to his dismissal in 1949,
after only 14 months’ work. However, again he
opened a studio, worked for various magazines,
and had his first book,London Today, published,
documenting his impressions of the city. Withers
employed him once more in 1951, and he managed
to stay withVoguefor three years concentrating
on portraiture and documentary work, having
shown little aptitude or admiration for fashion.
His first commission on his return was to photo-
graph Picasso and for the next three years he
continued to photograph artists and celebrities.
In retrospect Deakin is now seen as a chronicler
of Soho’s artistic life of the late 1940s and early
1950s. He stopped photographing sometime in the
early 1960s. He had become increasingly unreliable
as his health deteriorated, and returned to painting
in his last years. Though diagnosed with lung can-
cer, he continued to travel, accompanying Francis
Bacon to the painter’s retrospective exhibition in
Paris in 1971. His links and friendship with Bacon
were one constant in his life. Photographs were
important to Bacon as a visual reference and
inspiration for his work and he often employed
Deakin to provide this source material, having a
great admiration for the brutal qualities of the
photographers work. John Deakin died of heart
failure in May 1972, having been sent by Bacon
to Brighton on the South Coast of England to
recuperate from his last visit to hospital.
Deakin had originally wanted to be a painter and
had died with little regard and care for his photo-
graphic work. When his first posthumous exhibition,
The Salvage of a Photographer,wasshownatthe
Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1984,
prints were selected from the little he had left to his
friend, the art historian Bruce Bernard. The next year
his archive of prints and negatives atVogue was
rediscovered, many frayed and damaged. When his
work was next exhibited in 1996 at the National
Portrait Gallery in London, these two collections
were augmented by the creased, paint-spattered
prints found within Francis Bacon’s studio. The con-
dition of these prints had not detracted from the
content; indeed some critics have seen their deteriora-
tion and heritage as a supplement to their aesthetic
value and given a new importance to the photogra-
phy of John Deakin.
MikeCrawfordBiography
Born in England, 18 May 1912. Lived and worked in Dublin,
early 1930s before moving to London. Traveling during
mid-1930s. Starts to photograph while living in Paris,- Serves as photographer in the British Army during
World War II, 1939–1945. Staff photographer for British
Vogue, 1947–1948. Second employment with British
Vogue, 1951–1954. Died in Brighton, England, May 1972.
Individual Exhibitions
1938 Mayor Gallery; London, England, (Paintings)
1956 St. Georges Gallery; London, England (Paintings)
1956 John Deakin’s Paris; Daniel Archer Bookshop, Lon-
don, England
1956 John Deakin’s Rome; Daniel Archer Bookshop, Lon-
don, England
1962 Collages by John Deakin; Museum Street Gallery, Lon-
don, England
1984 The Salvage of a Photographer; Victoria & Albert
Museum, London, England, (Posthumous)
1996 Photographs; National Portrait Gallery, London, Eng-
landFurther Reading
Deakin, John.London Today. London. Saturn Press, 1949.
Farson, Daniel.Sacred Monsters. London: Bloomsbury, 1988.
Farson, Daniel.The Gilded Gutter Life of Francis Bacon.
London: Century, 1993.
Muir, Robin. ‘‘John Deakin.’’ InPhotographs. London:
Schirmer/Mosel, 1996.
The Salvage of a Photographer. Exh. cat. London: Victoria
and Albert Museum, 1984.DEAKIN, JOHN