Looking Back: Photographs by Arthur Campbell, 1939-60 - Softcover

Campbell, Arthur A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0946872252 ISBN 13: 9780946872251

Publisher: Friar's Bush Press, 1989

Synopsis

Published in 1989 by Friar's Bush Press, 'Looking back' is a companion to Arthur Campbell's successful and well received Return Journey, published in 1987. It ranges over the period 1939-1960 and contains photographs of Dublin, Belfast and the artistic community of which the photographer was part. The Dublin views capture striking scenes such as the Nelson pillar, the bicycle parks in O'Connell Street and the Quays. The Belfast photographs show graphically the streets and people of the city recovering after the destruction of the war. The final section portrays artists such as Dan O'Neill, William Conor, and the photographer's brother George Campbell. In his introduction, the author says this: My first book of photographs, Return Journey, ended at the outbreak of war in 1939. In Looking Back, the photographs cover the period 1939-60. When news of the start of war broke I went down to a photographic shop in High Street and bought all the 3*4 centimetre film that was in stock. For the next five years, however, because of wartime censorship, I photographed very little in Belfast. Instead, chep day excursions and weekends staying at the youth hostel in Mountjoy Square, allowed me to photograph interesting parts of the city of Dublin. In spite of wartime restrictions, my brother George and I, with members of our circle of friends, Gerard Dillon, Daniel O'Neill, Olive Henry, James MacIntyre and Thomas McCreanor, when we had a little money, went to the Mournes and the Antrim Coast and painted landscapes or seascapes. With the lifting of restrictions after the end of the war, I returned to photographing Belfast. Seen today, the photographs capture a city and people reviving after the war and the blitz which had so devastated parts of Belfast. Some photographs fleshed out five-minute sketches and colour notes when I painted at home; five minutes on a pen drawing because I could not ask my companions to wait while I spent time on details...

About this edition

• Publisher: Friar's Bush Press
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0946872252
• ISBN 13: 9780946872251
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 84