In the winter of 1958, Sergio Larrain (1931–2012) travelled to London. He spent just a few months there, but captured an extraordinarily powerful vision of the city.
Larrain's London is a fast-moving blur of activity. His photographs reveal the signs of the emergence of a new, post-war London society: the class divisions, the burgeoning fashions of its youth, and the everyday life of Londoners about to enter a new decade: the Sixties. These images brought Larrain to the attention of Henri Cartier-Bresson, who immediately signed him to Magnum Photos.
This edition of London comprises the entire series including previously unpublished photographs from the archives of Magnum Photos. The book also features a text by the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño, written specifically to accompany this series in 1999, as well as an essay by Agnès Sire, artistic director of the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, detailing Larrain’s stay in London.
'If you like archive photos, black & white and to see how a master of street photography operated, this is one for your shelf'
Amateur Photographer
'Both real and imaginative while evoking a haunting beauty, the London we see breaks away from the illustrative and is distilled to its core. Imbued with poetic pathos'
Black & White Photography
Format: Hardback
Size: 24.5 x 18.5 cm
Extent: 176 pp
Illustrations: 94
Publication date: 14 January 2021
ISBN: 9780500545416