The Unknown Bown

by Jane Bown

"The Observer" published its first Jane Bown photograph in December 1949, beginning a romance between Britain's oldest Sunday paper and the country's most loved photographer that still flourishes. By 1980, she was renowned enough for the National Portrait Gallery to hold a one-person exhibition of her work and there have been no fewer than seven published collections of her photographs. This first ever collection of Bown's non-portraiture stretches back to her student days and includes many previously unpublished and some previously unseen images. It stands as a fascinating insight into Bown's development as an artist, and reveals a breadth to her talents that will surprise and energise all lovers of her work. The many set pieces, whose instinctive drama captures social history in the making, will appeal to the 'retrospective' market.

Genres: Photography

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Jane Hope Bown CBE was an English photographer who worked for The Observer newspaper from 1949. Her portraits, primarily photographed in black and white and using available light, received widespread critical acclaim and her work has been described by Lord Snowdon as "a kind of English Cartier-Bresson."