30th July 1949: Bert Assirati (on top), 17-stone Free Style Heavyweight Wrestling Champion of the British Empire, in action during a practice work-out with Mike Marino at a gym in Brixton, London. Original Publication: Picture Post – 4847 – The Half Nelson Touch – pub. 1949 (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)Two boys in the Gorbals area of Glasgow. The Gorbals tenements were built quickly and cheaply in the 1840s, providing housing for Glasgow’s burgeoning population of industrial workers. Conditions were appalling; overcrowding was standard and sewage and water facilities inadequate. The tenements housed about 40,000 people with up to eight family members sharing a single room, 30 residents sharing a toilet and 40 sharing a tap. By the time this photograph was taken 850 tenements had been demolished since 1920. Redevelopment of the area began in the late 1950s and the tenements were replaced with a modern tower block complex in the sixties. Original Publication: Picture Post – 4499 – The Forgotten Gorbals – pub. 1948 (Photo by Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
At the Photographers Gallery in London until 2 June this year go and see great news photography by Bert Hardy.
‘From his early career as a news and sports photographer, to serving combat cameraman and successful advertising entrepreneur, this retrospective of the renowned photojournalist shines a fresh light on his four-decade long career. The exhibition celebrates Hardy’s wide-ranging social documentary work across mid-century Britain, including Liverpool, Cardiff, Belfast, Tyneside and Glasgow. His travels across post-war Europe and images from the many conflicts he reported on will also be on show, as well as a rich selection of materials from Hardy’s archive, such as press passes, correspondence, diaries, original publications, and some of his lesser-known colour work.’
