Trafalgar Square

Authors

Roger Hargreaves is the Education Officer for Photography at the National Portrait Gallery, where he recently curated the highly successful exhibition Circling the Square.

Don McCullin is one of the greatest photographers of conflict in our time and is a Londoner with a deep personal attachment to Trafalgar Square.

Specifications

245 x 245mm, 120 pages
120 illustrations
ISBN 1 85514 345 3
£20.00 (hardback)
Special Gallery price: £16.99
Published February 2005

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Trafalgar Square: Through the Camera
Roger Hargreaves
Foreword by Don McCullin

Trafalgar Square is at the heart of London life. From its foundation as the city's first open square, to its ambitious redevelopment for the twenty-first century, this book celebrates the history of the Square through the eyes of generations of photographers, spanning over 160 years.

With over 100 illustrations, this unique photographic history captures the continuing cycle of political demonstrations and national celebrations that take place in the Square. Featuring work by Henri Cartier Bresson, Don McCullin, Norman Parkinson and Oliver Toscani, subjects include the coronation procession of King George VI in 1937, suffragette riots, a young Elizabeth Taylor being mobbed by pigeons, Bertrand Russell, the poll tax demonstrations of 1990, and football's World Cup in 2002.

Photography originated at the same time as the Square, and Roger Hargreaves's accompanying text makes fascinating reference to the social and cultural history of the camera. With the rise of popular newspapers in the 1900s and the need for illustrations, photographers would be despatched to London landmarks to create pictures to add colour to the news pages. Typical and sellable stories included the use of the fountains as an impromptu playground, as well as the vagaries of the British weather. Until recently, itinerant photographers also doubled as pigeon feed sellers and made postcard portraits to sell to tourists. The book also highlights intriguing, and often humorous, photographs of the innumerable tourists who have visited the Square over the decades to sit on the famous bronze lions and feed the pigeons.

This product is supplied by the National Portrait Gallery Company Limited. Every purchase supports the National Portrait Gallery.