London in Black and White
Published: 26 May 2011
London in Black & White: A Photographic Celebration -
New Exhibition Opens at Tower Bridge
Images from London Metropolitan Archives of life, people and
places from the late 1800s to early 1940s
VISITORS to the Tower Bridge Exhibition will have the chance to
see a collection of rare images from London’s black and white past
when a new photographic exhibition opens on Thursday 30
June in the West Walkway.
The 60 images sourced from London Metropolitan Archives offer
visitors the chance to step back in time as far back as the late
1800s and immerse themselves in the rich seam of history that
surrounds Tower Bridge, the Pool of London and the surrounding
areas.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for London Metropolitan
Archives to show just some of the gems in the photograph
collections we manage and care for,” said Deborah Jenkins,
Assistant Director of the City of London’s department of Libraries,
Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery. “The power of an old black
& white photograph to capture the viewer’s attention and draw
them into the scene is quite incredible; the fascination they hold
is like an invisible thread that keeps us in touch with the past
and induces a feeling of continuity and sense into our busy 21st
century lives.”
The photographs have been chosen to represent six categories of
London life: Tower Bridge, waterways, work, life, buildings and
boats. The shot chosen as the main publicity image is of St Paul’s
Cathedral seen behind an early 20th century river frontage that is
very different to the present day structures – today, the newest
river crossing the Millennium Bridge stretches across the Thames in
this very spot.
The hardship of working life is clearly seen on the faces of the
men and women as they go about their daily routines before motors
and mechanisms lifted the burden from their shoulders; a woman
single-handedly pulling a barge along the canal at Camden’s Hawley
Lock and men lugging enormous barrels off cargo ships and onto the
docks to be stored in ranks portray the tough physical demands they
faced every day, just to make a living.
But it wasn’t all nose to the grindstone; children playing with
hoops, mothers relaxing with little children in the sun and boys
skinny dipping in the river depict a leisure time that appears calm
and unhurried, peacefully devoid of the over-stimulation that
drives us today.
“There couldn’t be a better venue for this exhibition than Tower
Bridge,” said Tower Bridge director David Wight. “Some of the
locations shown in the photographs can be seen from the Walkways
which adds a unique dimension to the experience. Tower Bridge is a
potent symbol of the rich historical significance of the City,
surrounding area and the River Thames so the opportunity to be able
to share this with visitors from both home and abroad was
unmissable.”
Many of the images included in the exhibition have been recently
digitised by London Metropolitan Archives in partnership with ‘New
Deal of the Mind’, a Future Jobs Fund project which provides
internships for young unemployed people in cultural organisations.
“We’re delighted that a number of the images included in ‘London in
Black and White’ were prepared by our team of interns and look
forward to sharing these incredible photographs with visitors to
Tower Bridge and via our Flickr pages on the internet,” said
Deborah Jenkins.
London in Black & White replaces the River Thames: Source to
Sea photographic exhibition which has been taking Tower Bridge
visitors on a pictorial journey along the 215 mile length of the
River Thames in the West Walkway for the past year.
London Metropolitan Archives, like Tower Bridge, is part of the
City of London Corporation. It holds an extraordinary range of
collections and records from a wide range of public and private
organisations that represent an important part of London life, its
past, present and future. The collection dates from medieval times
to the present day and is ever-expanding – at the moment there are
enough documents to fill around 78 km worth of shelving! The
majority of items held by the LMA can be freely viewed by the
public.