Glyndebourne

Silver gelatin print by Tony Ray-Jones (1941-1972, entitled 'Glyndebourne', 1967. Initially inspired by great European photographers such as Cartier-Bresson and Brassaï, Ray-Jones moved to America in 1961 and discovered a new generation of ‘street photographers’ such as Lee Friedlander and Diane Arbus. He was also seduced by American mass culture, street parades and shop window displays: he came to see America as a series of clichés, and his ideas of ‘Englishness’ were considerably heightened by the contrast. On his return to England in 1965, he brought this expanded vision to bear on life in England, portraying it with wry humour and pathos.