London 1958-59

First edition (1998). First impression. Medium format paperback in  as new condition. No markings, the book is as new and unread.

About London 1958-59

Magnum photographer Sergio Larrain visited London in 1958 to find a city firmly rooted in tradition. Yet in its streets, its parks, its clubs and its cafes Larrain witnessed a city moving towards a new decade - a changing society ready to emerge. Never before published, these powerful photographs present a vivid portrait of a London which has long since disappeared. The book is introduced by Mike Seaborne, Curator of the Historic Photographs Collection at the Museum of London.

Artist Bio

Sergio Larrain was born in 1931 in Santiago de Chile. He studied music before taking up photography in 1949, from which year until 1953 he studied forestry at the University of California at Berkeley. He then attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor before setting off to travel throughout Europe and the Middle East. Thus began Larrain’s work as a freelance photographer. He became a staff photographer for the Brazilian magazine O Cruzeiro and in 1956, the Museum of Modern Art in New York bought two of his pictures. In 1958, Larrain was given a grant from the British Council that allowed him to produce a series of photographs of London. The same year Henri Cartier-Bresson saw his photographs of street children and suggested that he work for Magnum. Larrain spent two years in Paris, where he worked for international press titles.