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Topic Summary

Posted by: Iain Fisher
« on: January 25, 2009, 08:32:28 PM »

The Photographers Gallery in London has an exhibition "Soho Nights" running to 8 Feb 2009.  Mainly the work of photographers, Tim Gidal, Kurt Hutton, Thurston Hopkins and Slim Hewitt from the Picture Post from the 1950s plus Ken from the same period.

The programme notes state "The photographs of Ken Russell captured the birth of the ‘hand jive’ at the Cat’s Whiskers coffee bar in 1956. This venue attracted such big crowds that there was no room to move and so hand gestures replaced conventional dancing.  The atmospheric scenes these photographs portray give us a glimpse of night-time Soho as it once was."

I went there today to see it. It is a relatively small exhibition, one room, but with good black and white photography.  Ken's are not the best in the show (they were unpublished so presumably rejected).  They do convey the atmosphere of the club, but they just miss the right photographic still.

I would still recommend it.  Details are here
www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-news.html

and one of the best photos, by Ken Hutton, is