Niegl Henderson (1917-85) was an artist and photographer whose work had a profound influence on British art in the 1950s and 1960s. Having been introduced to the art world by his mother, who managed Peggy Guggenheim’s first gallery in London and had friends in the Bloomsbury Group, he established himself in a circle that included leading figures in modern art such as Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Alberto Giacometti and Eduardo Paolozzi.
While living in Bethnal Green, east London, Handerson took to walking the streets and created an extraordinary collection of photographs documenting life in the area between 1949 and 1953. These photographs capture the textures of the streets and the heart of working-class life in all its post-war reality. From Textural shots of cobbled streets and walls, past hop-scotching children and working men, to bustling market scenes and street parties celebrating the 1953 coronation, Henderson’s unique view of the streets evokes the character of London’s East End and it’s people, as well as documenting a way of life that would soon disappear.
