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Photo Gallery: Ken Russell - A Retrospective

The director's flavoursome snaps from the Fifties go on show

by Jasper ReesMonday, 28 November 2011

'Orphans of the Storm', photograph by Ken Russell, 1954

All images © TopFoto

An exhibition of Ken Russell's photographs, taken in the 1950s, spirits you back to a London still in recovery from the trauma of war. And yet seen through the prism of Russell's lively eye, always on the look-out for mischief and absurdity, an era we now view as both innocent and slightly dull appears anything but. He took a series of pictures in Hyde Park designed to lampoon ridiculous local by-laws. He had fun with stilts and penny farthings and assorted props. Above all, he celebrated the great British penchant for dressing up. Enjoy a selection of photographs from Ken Russell: A Retrospective.

Click on a picture to enter the slideshow

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With a smile and a shine
A wedding has been arranged
Priest and deacon
Bride and groom break bread
Chauffeur and master
Pistols at dawn
A question of honour
A policeman on a pogo stick chases a criminal who is carrying a bag of loot (Russell is the copper)
Coffee bar girls
Troubadour: the penny farthing bicycle

Ken Russell: A Retrospective: Signed limited-edition prints are available to purchase
TopFoto website

Seen through the prism of Russell's lively eye, an era we now view as both innocent and slightly dull appears anything but

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