Pocket Visions: Postcards from 1901–2000
5 Feb–18 Apr 2012
Pocket Visions: Postcards from 1901–2000 brings together a range of postcards from the past century, alongside a public talks programme by a range of distinguished artists and writers, each of whom will talk about their own specially chosen postcards. Contributors include: Annie Freud, AL Kennedy, Richard Wentworth, Charles Nicholl, Bobby Baker, Rosie Millard and Jeremy Cooper.
Postcards are magical – they are perfect, compact documents of a time and location; simple and affordable and always fascinating – to see what the picture is of and then to consider how the photographer has framed it. A miniature window onto the world, a vision of a place – shared via the post, on a small card.
In 1964, American photographer Walker Evans devised a lecture on early Twentieth Century popular photography, where most examples used were postcards. He gave it the wonderful title ‘Lyric Documentary’. Frightened of being labeled a sentimentalist or appearing nostalgic, he qualifies this in his notes: "My examples are deliberately not major ones but at least one of my subjects is style, which in our circles is serious."
These postcards have been collected from all over the world, chosen for all kinds of reasons, but above all for their sensuality – the textures of grass, stone, rocks, buildings, interiors and fabric.
Postcards are magical – they are perfect, compact documents of a time and location; simple and affordable and always fascinating – to see what the picture is of and then to consider how the photographer has framed it. A miniature window onto the world, a vision of a place – shared via the post, on a small card.
In 1964, American photographer Walker Evans devised a lecture on early Twentieth Century popular photography, where most examples used were postcards. He gave it the wonderful title ‘Lyric Documentary’. Frightened of being labeled a sentimentalist or appearing nostalgic, he qualifies this in his notes: "My examples are deliberately not major ones but at least one of my subjects is style, which in our circles is serious."
These postcards have been collected from all over the world, chosen for all kinds of reasons, but above all for their sensuality – the textures of grass, stone, rocks, buildings, interiors and fabric.