Sefton Samuels
{{Short description|British documentary photographer (1931–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Sefton Samuel Samuels
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRPS}}
|image_size =
|birth_date = {{birth date|1931|01|27|df=y}}
|birth_place = Manchester, England
|death_date = {{death date and age|2024|07|26|1931|01|27|df=y}}
|death_place = Manchester, England
|occupation = Photojournalist
}}
Sefton Samuels (27 January 1931 – 26 July 2024) was a British photographer known for his photojournalistic portrayal of northern England. He was described by painter LS Lowry as his favourite photographer.{{cite news |url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/arts/artexhibition-20637443-sefton-samuels-sod-carnaby-street.do|title=Sefton Samuels: Sod Carnaby Street |publisher=Evening Standard |date=September 2007|accessdate= 22 April 2011| location=London }}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/arts/gallery/2007/sep/11/photography.art|title=Sod Carnaby Street|work=The Guardian|date=11 September 2007|accessdate= 11 September 2007| location=London }} His style has been compared to that of photographer Bill Brandt.{{cite news|title=Royal Photographic Society Journal, November 2011| location=London }}
Shot over five decades, his pictures include images of George Best, LS Lowry, Coronation Street, Louis Armstrong and the changing culture and landscape of northern England. Around one hundred of Samuels' photographs are held in the National Portrait Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum.{{cite news|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp59744/sefton-samuels|title=Sefton Samuels|publisher=National Portrait Gallery| location=London }} He has also held exhibitions at the Barbican Centre, Kings Place and Proud Galleries.{{cite news|url=http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/content/sefton-samuels-jazz-legends|title=Sefton Samuels: Jazz Legends |publisher=Kings Place |date=October 2010|accessdate= 22 April 2011| location=London }}
Life and work
Samuels was born in Manchester in 1931.{{cite web | url=https://www.gettyimages.com/editorial-images/news/event/photographer-sefton-samuels-dies-at-93/776183978?editorialproducts=all | publisher=Getty Archive | title=UNS: Photographer Sefton Samuels Dies At 93 | date=30 July 2024 | accessdate=30 July 2024}} He worked in the mills of Lancashire and Yorkshire and as a professional jazz drummer before turning to photography.{{cite news|url=http://www.citylife.co.uk/news_and_reviews/news/10009322_iconic_images_of_cool_manchester |title=Iconic images of cool Manchester|publisher=City Life|date=21 September 2007 |accessdate=21 September 2007| location=London | first=Paul|last=Taylor |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806083132/http://www.citylife.co.uk/news_and_reviews/news/10009322_iconic_images_of_cool_manchester |archive-date=2012-08-06}}
He was a member of the Manchester Amateur Photographic Society and joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1960.[https://archive.rps.org/archive/volume-100/736655-volume-100-page-84?q=sefton The Photographic Journal, April 1960, p. 111]. Accessed 30 July 2024. His photograph of George Best was used on the cover of Paul Weller's Stanley Road album designed by artist Peter Blake. Samuels' intimate images of LS Lowry at home were used as the basis for a life-size statue of the painter erected in a Manchester bar.{{cite news |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/trafford/news/s/1410575_photographer_put_lowry_statue_in_picture|title=Photographer put Lowry statue in picture|publisher=Manchester Evening News |date=11 March 2011|accessdate=11 March 2011| location=London | first=Matthew|last=Davis}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-12471418|title=Statue of LS Lowry to sit in his Manchester local|work=BBC News |date=15 February 2011 |accessdate=15 February 2011 | location=London}} He had exhibitions at the Barbican Centre, Kings Place and Proud Galleries. In 2011, Random House published a major collection of Samuels' work documenting the north of England over five decades, entitled Northerners: Portrait of a no-nonsense people.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/northerners-by-sefton-samuels-2309810.html|title=Northerners, by Sefton Samuels|publisher=The Independent|date=10 July 2011| location=London }} He was interviewed about Northerners by his son, BBC documentary maker and broadcaster Tim Samuels, on The Culture Show on BBC Two.
Awards
Samuels was a winner at the 2011 Royal Academy of Arts Eyewitness awards—inspired by Brassaï and Robert Capa—for street photography he took in Madeira.{{cite news |url=http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/hungarian-photography/category-winners,1836,AR.html|title=Royal Academy, Eyewitness }} He gained his Associate (ARPS) of the Royal Photographic Society in December 1960[https://archive.rps.org/archive/volume-101/741163-volume-101-page-38?q=sefton The Photographic Journal, February 1961, p. 40]. Accessed 30 July 2024. and Fellowship (FRPS) of the Royal Photographic Society in December 1965.[https://archive.rps.org/archive/volume-106/742643-volume-106-page-50?q=sefton The Photographic Journal, February 1966, p. 68]. Accessed 30 July 2024.
Collections
Exhibition (with others)
- 1963: Nine Photographers, Manchester Building and Design Centre, Manchester, 18 November – 6 December 1963.{{cite news |last= Tucker | first= Anthony | date = 1963 | title= Nine Photographers Exhibition at Manchester | newspaper= The Guardian |location= Manchester}} With Shirley Baker, Dennis Btesh, Ray Green, Alfred Gregory, Neil Libbert and Ralph Marshall.{{fact|date=July 2024}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|www.seftonphoto.co.uk}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuels, Sefton}}