![Portrait of John Claridge Photographer 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Portrait_of_John_Claridge_Photographer_2017.jpg)
John Claridge (born 1944) is a British photographer, known for his work in advertising, black and white portraits in
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
and
street photographs in the
East End
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
of London.
Early life
Claridge was born in
Plaistow, London. His father worked in the docks, sold alcohol in New York during
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
and was a
bare-knuckle boxer
Bare-knuckle boxing (or simply bare-knuckle) is a combat sport which involves two individuals throwing punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time without any boxing gloves or other form of padding on their hands. It is a regulated ...
in the dock areas in both New York and the East End; Claridge also boxed.
His mother was a shirt machinist working in
Roman Road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
,
Bow.
Aged 8, Claridge saw a plastic camera at an East End funfair and had to have it. A few years later, he saved up enough money from his paper round in the London docks to buy a proper camera to record the world he was growing up in.
From the age of 13, he started to buy jazz records, and it remained a lifetime obsession.
He had no formal training as a photographer but aged 15, began working for
McCann Erickson
McCann, formerly McCann Erickson, is an American global advertising agency network, with offices in 120 countries. McCann is part of McCann Worldgroup, along with several other agencies, including direct digital marketing agency MRM//McCann, expe ...
advertising agency in their Photography and Design department. He worked under
Robert Brownjohn
Robert Brownjohn (August 8, 1925 – August 1, 1970) was an American graphic designer known for blending formal graphic design concepts with wit and 1960s pop culture. He is best known for his motion picture title sequences, especially '' From R ...
, the art director known for his
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
title sequences, who encouraged him to have his first exhibition, of photographs on the East End, aged 16.
Career
In 1961 he left to become assistant to
David Montgomery and in 1964 he opened his own studio in London. His first commissions were for ''
Management Today
Haymarket Media Group is a privately held media company headquartered in London. It has publications in the consumer, business and customer sectors, both print and online. It operates exhibitions allied to its own publications, and previously on ...
,
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
,
Town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
,
Harper’s'', and ''
Nova
A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...
'' magazines. He went on to work for many types of companies, especially tourist boards and car companies.
From 1976 to 1989, Claridge lived and had his darkroom in a flat on
Frith Street
Frith Street is in the Soho area of London. To the north is Soho Square and to the south is Shaftesbury Avenue. The street crosses Old Compton Street, Bateman Street and Romilly Street.
History
Frith Street was laid out in the late 1670s an ...
, Soho,
above
Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.
He shot the 1993
Pirelli Calendar
The Pirelli Calendar, known and trade-marked as "The Cal", is an annual trade calendar which has been published by the UK subsidiary of the Italian tyre manufacturing company Pirelli since 1964. The calendar has a reputation for its choice of ...
.
In April 2018,
The Association of Photographers included Claridge in its 50th anniversary exhibition of some the world's most respected photographers. His work is held in the collections of
The Arts Council of Great Britain,
the Victoria & Albert Museum, the
National Portrait Gallery and
The Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of the ...
.
He has won over 700 awards for his editorial and advertising work in the 1960s.
Projects and series
Claridge began taking photos of the East End as a teenager in the 1960s. The series was published as a book (''East End'') in 2016.
He began taking the jazz portraits series while living in his flat above Ronnie Scott's.
In 1986, he photographed
Chet Baker
Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool".
Baker earned much attention and ...
in the club:
Chet Baker came in one night in 1986, and I asked him if I could do a couple of shots before he went on. I said: 'I’ve got to tell you, when I was 13, I bought the Chet Baker Quartet record with ''Winter Wonderland'' on it. Russ Freeman was the pianist … ' And Chet said, 'Yeah, he was, in 1953.' He just stopped and stared, going back through his memory. And that’s when I took the picture.
Having grown up in a boxing family,
Claridge has taken over 100 photographs of members of the London Ex-Boxer's Association, which were serially published by The Gentle Author, 2012-2013.
Of Claridge's ''Soho Faces'' project (2004-2017) he said, "I decided to document the customers at
The French in earnest. For me, it was the one place in Soho that still held its Bohemian character, where people truly chose to share time and conversation, and I became aware that many I had once chinked glasses with were no longer around."
Claridge took over 500 portraits for ''Soho Faces''
and he is considered to have taken more photographs of the East End than any other photographer.
Publications
Publications by Claridge
*''South America.'' London: Glimpseland, 1982.
*''One Hundred Photographs.'' London: Glimpseland, 1988.
*''Seven Days in Havana.'' London: Glimpseland, 2000.
*''8 Hours.'' London: Glimpseland, 2002.
*''In Shadows I Dream.'' London: Glimpseland, 2003.
*''Another Time Another Place.'' Southport:
Café Royal
A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-caf ...
, 2012.
*''Along the Thames.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2012.
*''The Salvation Army.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2012.
*''Peopled Streets.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2012.
*''East End Graphics.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2012.
*''Monoliths, Sculptures, Fun & Death.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2012.
*''Coal Miners 1971.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2013.
*''Afternoons Well Spent.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2013.
*''Scottish Landscapes.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2013.
*''The Gorbals.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2013.
*''The Industrial Past.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2013.
*''Vintage London.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2013.
*''Ribble Steam Railway.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2013.
*''Israel 1967.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2014.
*''New York in the 70s.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2014.
*''India in the 70s.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2016.
*''Whitechapel Bell Foundry.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2016.
*''East End.'' London: Spitalfields Life, 2016.
*''The Miners 1971.'' London: Lizards Eye,
[Lizards Eye is Claridge's imprint; the books can be foun]
here
within his website. 2017.
*''Warriors Heroes Boxers.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''From the Market.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''A Vision of India.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Tools & Bones.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Objects.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Along the Thames.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Tunisia.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Paris 60's & 70's.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Paris Graphics.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Lost Jazz.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Trains Autos.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Oradour.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''No Sun in Venice.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''A Meander New York.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''A Western Trail.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
*''Signs & Graphics.'' London: Lizards Eye, 2018.
Publications with contributions by Claridge
*''The Gentle Author's London Album.'' London: Spitalfields Life, 2013 (''Boxers'' series)
Notes
References
External links
Official Website of John ClaridgeJohn Claridge's best photograph: Chet Baker lost in memory, published by The GuardianJohn Claridge in the National Portrait GalleryJohn Claridge in the Arts Council CollectionJohn Claridge in Mind's Eye Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claridge, John
1944 births
Street photographers
British portrait photographers
20th-century British photographers
21st-century British photographers
Living people
Photographers from London