38
B+W
A
t the Lucy Bell Gallery in
St Leonards-on-Sea this
winter a remarkable
exhibition of work is being
shown. The English by
Magnum photographer Ian
Berry has stood the test of time and is as
fascinating today as it was when it was first
published – although, how it is perceived
might have altered. ‘At the time,’ says
Berry, ‘a BBC interviewer asked me if I was
a communist and the editor of a current
affairs magazine asked me if I was a fascist.’
Far from being a hotbed of rebellion, the
work is seemingly a charming nostalgic
trip into a time of innocence. But, on
closer inspection, it is an extraordinary
documentation of a nation and its people,
frozen in time. ‘I didn’t start out with anypreconceptions,’ explains Berry as we sit in
the Magnum offices in London where we
have met to talk about the show. ‘I simply set
out to discover the English.’
This is by no means an oversimplification
of the matter because, while Berry was
born in the north of England, he spent his
formative years from the age of six to 17
in boarding school. Only a month after
leaving school he relocated to South Africa
where he learned photography and worked
on newspapers and magazines, gaining a
worldwide reputation for his photographs
of the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. The
images were later used in court evidence,
proving that the police fired at the retreating
crowd, shooting many of the peaceful
demonstrators in the back. Sixty-nine people
were killed and many others injured. Berry’sphotographs – he was the only photographer
to capture the event – went round the world,
but were never published in South Africa.A
fter eight years in South Africa,
Berry moved to Paris where he
was invited by Henri Cartier-
Bresson to become a member of
Magnum. After two years he returned to
an England that he hardly knew. ‘I was very
lucky,’ he says with characteristic modesty.
‘I was given a grant by the Arts Council to
do a project on the English – I thought thatAn old woman with her dog during the Queen’s Jubilee year, 1977.Opposite top
Derby day at Epsom racecourse, 1975.
Opposite bottom
British army offi cers in Ireland inspecting
horses they intend to buy for cavalry use, 1974.36-41_IAN_BERRY_185 ER/MB2.indd 3836-41_IAN_BERRY_185 ER/MB2.indd 38 02/12/2015 10:4902/12/2015 10:49