Who are the English? And what images spring to mind when you think of
the English and England?
Ask a tourist and they would probably say Big Ben, English 'bobbies',
black taxi cabs and the late Queen and royal family. Ask a Scot,
Welshmen or Irishman and you may get a different answer. However, ask an
Englishman (or woman) and you will probably get more intimate answers...
mowing the lawn, going down the pub or maybe braving the beach on a
frigid summer's day. Ask Chris Steele-Perkins, an internationally
acclaimed and award-winning Magnum photographer of over 50 years, and
he'll have a multitude of answers all captured through his lens.
In this new edition of his wonderful photobook, Chris presents a
sweeping, unique record of what he thinks makes England truly English.
From Sunday cricket matches to snoozes in a deckchair, intimate family
portraits to carefree children at play, circus shows with performing
bears to the wilder performers of a street carnival, and from Saturday
night dancing to race riots. Each picture tells a story of time and
place and many of the images in this collection will strike a chord or a
memory in the viewer. These natural and authentic photographs are a
personal selection of the best and most important of Chris' photographs
that he has taken over 40 years of photographing in England. Some are
drawn from books he has made on English themes, others from stories he
has worked on, others from pictures of family and friends, from random
events encountered. This book is an honest testament to this odd but
magnificent country that is England, the England of the people.
