In the sixties, the English “So British” of photographer Tony Ray-Jones

Have the English only changed for a little more than half a century? However, Of course. Meanwhile, the swimsuits have shortened, the bourgeois no longer go to Wimbledon in the bow tie and the fairgrounds are no longer promoting stripteases. Moreover, But the time jump in Tony Ray-Jones photos. In addition, taken in the 1960s and early 1970s, tells the amazing immutability of the English coast and small seaside towns of the country.

The too cold sea baths. Consequently, the uncomfortable pebble beaches, and the wonderful irony pinches-rire without which England would be lost: everything is there, immortalized in black and white by the sharp and empathetic eye of the photographer.

Tony Ray-Jones died too early, of leukemia, at 31 years old, in 1972. Trained at the London College of Printing then in sixties, english “so british” photographer Yale. in the United States, he had time to leave behind an almost anthropological work, devoted to the leisure of his compatriots. He notably surveyed seaside resorts long before the low cost aviation embarked the English by the millions in search of the sun. towards Spain or the south of France. Blackpool, Margate, Brighton … depressing beauty contests. picnics on the beach with thick wool sweaters, trendy young people and old heights who rub shoulders without saying anything-but who think no less: England of the 1960s was well worth that of 2025.

Real empathy – Sixties, english "so british" photographer

Tony Ray-Jones’ precursor’s work influenced Martin Parr, celebrity of English photography, eleven years younger. But where the latter has a hard tooth. bringing a sometimes acidic vision of English society, Tony Ray-Jones knows how to capture banal scenes with real empathy.

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