Bruce Davidson (American, b. 1933). Child Wearing Balaclava Helmet, Wales,1965. Gelatin silver print, printed later. 7-7...

Description

Bruce Davidson (American, b. 1933)
Child Wearing Balaclava Helmet, Wales,1965
Gelatin silver print, printed later
7-7/8 x 12 inches (19.9 x 30.5 cm) (image)
11 x 14 inches (sheet)
Signed and negative notation 65-52-1/31 in pencil, verso.

LITERATURE:
B. Davidson, Bruce Davidson Photographs, Agrinde/Summit Books, New York, 1978, pp. 122-123;
C. Gollonet et al., Bruce Davidson, Aperture, NY/ Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid, 2016, pl. 120, p. 197.

"In the fall of 1965, I went to Wales for a Holiday magazine assignment to photograph the Welsh castles. After completing the assignment, I traveled to the mining country in South Wales. I began to work in a way that was new to me. I started to stage-direct the picture... The mines, coal fields and children playing in factory towns held a certain mystery for me. What attracted me to these images was the survival of the human spirit coming out of the deep caverns into grim surroundings."
BRUCE DAVIDSON

Davidson's 1965 photographs of Cwmcarn, a mining village in South Wales, portray daily life set against a brooding and smoky backdrop. While life underground was often brutal and dangerous, the coal companies were the only real source of local employment and their eventual demise in the 1970s and 1980s created thousands of job redundancies and a catastrophic destruction of these small, closely-knit communities.


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