Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-barnor-15895" aria-label="More by James Barnor" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">James Barnor</a>
Eva London
Gift Eric and Louise Franck London Collection 2013
adults
black
body
clothing and personal items
contemporary society
emotions, concepts and ideas
ethnicity
Eva
fashion
formal qualities
hair
head / face
individuals: female
jewellery
lifestyle and culture
London - non-specific
make-up
multiculturism
named individuals
objects
people
photographic
places
portraits
social comment
society
UK London
woman
<p>This is one of a group of black and white and colour photographs in Tate’s collection taken by James Barnor in the 1960s (Tate P13419–P13421, P13484, P14381–P14384). Barnor’s portraiture played a key role in documenting black women and men who, in the post-war period, had immigrated to Britain from African countries and were establishing their identity as British. His photographs include images of unnamed subjects, such the two smartly-dressed women in <span>Wedding Guests, London</span> 1960s who pose in front of one of the classic British telephone boxes designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, presumably on their way to a wedding. Other portraits feature public figures, such as the radio journalist Mike Eghan, host of a popular Ghanaian talk show aired on the BBC (<span>Mike Eghan at BBC Studios, London</span> 1967 and <span>Mike Eghan</span> <span>at Piccadilly Circus, London </span>1967). One image documents the visit of American boxing legend Muhammad Ali to London in 1966, showing Ali training in advance of a fight (<span>Muhammad Ali Training, Earl’s Court, London </span>1966). A number of shots feature portraits of ‘cover girls’ that were originally published as covers for the magazine <span>Drum</span>, a publication originally from South Africa (<span>Drum Cover Girl Erlin Ibreck at Trafalgar Square, London</span> 1966, <span>Drum Cover Girl Erlin Ibreck, London</span> 1966). In <span>Drum Cover Girl Erlin Ibreck at Trafalgar Square, London</span> the model poses at one of London’s most iconic sites; in <span>Drum Cover Girl Erlin Ibreck, London</span> she stands in a London street, leaning against a car. These photographs capture the mood and fashion of London’s ‘swinging Sixties’, as well as the aspiration of Black immigrants to integrate into British society.</p>
paper print photograph gelatin silver
27 July 2012 – 16 September 2012
2012-09-16
27 July 2012 – 16 September 2012
2012-09-16
2012-07-27
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-07-27
Another London
Exhibition
14 November 2016 – 19 November 2017
2017-11-19
14 November 2016 – 19 November 2017
2017-11-19
2016-11-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2016-11-14
Stan firm inna Inglan
Collection based display
11 October 2021 – 3 April 2023
2023-04-03
11 October 2021 – 3 April 2023
2023-04-03
2021-10-11
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2021-10-11
Sixty Years
Collection based display
Eva, London
image: 282 × 284 mm
Gift Eric and Louise Franck London Collection 2013
<div class="text">
<p>This is one of a group of black and white and colour photographs in Tate’s collection taken by James Barnor in the 1960s (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/barnor-eva-london-p13419" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P13419</span></a>–<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/barnor-muhammad-ali-training-earls-court-london-p13421" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P13421</span></a>, <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/barnor-flamingo-cover-girl-sarah-with-friend-london-p13484" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P13484</span></a>, <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/barnor-wedding-guests-london-p14381" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14381</span></a>–<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/barnor-drum-cover-girl-erlin-ibreck-london-p14384" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14384</span></a>). Barnor’s portraiture played a key role in documenting black women and men who, in the post-war period, had immigrated to Britain from African countries and were establishing their identity as British. His photographs include images of unnamed subjects, such the two smartly-dressed women in <i>Wedding Guests, London</i> 1960s who pose in front of one of the classic British telephone boxes designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, presumably on their way to a wedding. Other portraits feature public figures, such as the radio journalist Mike Eghan, host of a popular Ghanaian talk show aired on the BBC (<i>Mike Eghan at BBC Studios, London</i> 1967 and <i>Mike Eghan</i> <i>at Piccadilly Circus, London </i>1967). One image documents the visit of American boxing legend Muhammad Ali to London in 1966, showing Ali training in advance of a fight (<i>Muhammad Ali Training, Earl’s Court, London </i>1966). A number of shots feature portraits of ‘cover girls’ that were originally published as covers for the magazine <i>Drum</i>, a publication originally from South Africa (<i>Drum Cover Girl Erlin Ibreck at Trafalgar Square, London</i> 1966, <i>Drum Cover Girl Erlin Ibreck, London</i> 1966). In <i>Drum Cover Girl Erlin Ibreck at Trafalgar Square, London</i> the model poses at one of London’s most iconic sites; in <i>Drum Cover Girl Erlin Ibreck, London</i> she stands in a London street, leaning against a car. These photographs capture the mood and fashion of London’s ‘swinging Sixties’, as well as the aspiration of Black immigrants to integrate into British society.</p>
<p>Barnor moved to Britain from Jamestown, Ghana in 1959. He lived and worked in London for ten years, before returning to Ghana in 1969. Over this period his mainstay was his work for Drum, which had been an integral part of the South African resistance movement known as the Sophiatown Renaissance. The magazine had launched the career of a number of black photographers from South Africa and combined campaigning journalism with light-hearted photo stories. It spread as a franchise across the African continent, including editions in Kenya and Nigeria and its readership extended to the black community in London. </p>
<p>The art historian Kobena Mercer has commented on the importance of Barnor’s role in documenting the black diaspora in Britain: </p>
<p class="cttext">
</p><blockquote>Cutting across the divide between periphery and metropolis, Barnor’s images suggest that ‘Africa’ has never been a static entity, confined to the boundaries of geography, but has always has a diasporic dimension. The scattering of culture and identity away from one single origin into multiple sites of resistance was once seen as a tragic loss of ‘roots’, although Barnor’s oeuvre seems to tally more with contemporary post-colonial thinking that regards diaspora as the alter-national product of world-making journeys, which pass through numerous cross-cultural ‘roots’. As such it is not a minus but a plus.<br/>(Mercer, in Autograph ABP 2010, n.p.)</blockquote>
<p>The prints in Tate’s collection were made by the artist in 2010 and were previously in the Eric and Louise Franck Collection, London.</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Kobena Mercer, ‘People Get Ready, James Barnor’s Route Map of Afro-Modernity’, in <i>Ever Young James Barnor</i>,<i> </i>exhibition catalogue, Autograph ABP, London 2010.<br/>James Barnor, <i>James Barnor, Ever Young</i>, Paris and London 2015.</p>
<p>Elena Crippa<br/>April 2016</p>
</div>

Summary
2018-03-08T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
adults black body clothing and personal items contemporary society emotions, concepts and ideas ethnicity Eva fashion formal qualities hair head / face individuals: female jewellery lifestyle and culture London - non-specific make-up multiculturism named individuals objects people photographic places portraits social comment society UK London woman