John Claridge

JOHN CLARIDGE (1944-2026)

The untimely death of photographer John Claridge came as a double shock. John was a pillar of Mind’s Eye Gallery, having presented seven beautiful exhibitions since 2014: Out of Shadows, The Hardest Game, East End, Les Mineurs, A Vision of India, 70’s New York, and Οradour-sur-Glane, as well as participating in two group shows. Moreover, he had only just finished printing and mailing work for an eighth exhibition at Mind’s Eye, Remembering Autochromes, which is due to open next Thursday, June 4.

John was a true professional and a real pleasure to work with. We always agreed readily on the images for each exhibition, and the prints always arrived in good time, impeccably packed by his wife, Janet. Indeed, all requests were dealt with promptly. This rigour and perfectionism came from a lifetime of working with advertising agencies and magazines, beginning at the age of fifteen when he left school.

We met in the most unlikely of circumstances. During the Mois de la Photo in 2013, there was an opening party for a Japanese artist in a tiny Japanese-run Saint-Germain boutique specialising in Lolita and Gothic fashion. The few pieces of graphic art were dotted about amongst the clothes. A small number of people were squeezed into the cramped space, among them John Claridge. He had just returned from a Pirelli calendar event in Milan and we started chatting, in English. He showed me photos of various prominent fashion photographers, none of whom I recognised (or even knew of), it not being my universe. But it turned out that we were both Londoners, and born only three weeks apart, he in the East End (where my mother was born) and me in North London. He promised to send me a copy of his book One Hundred Photographs, printed in 1988 for an exhibition at Hamiltons Gallery. This resulted in the 2014 exhibition Out of Shadows.

For the past twenty-odd years, John lived with Janet in a small village in the Aveyron. Τhey came up for three openings, The Hardest Game, East End and Les Mineurs. Several British friends were also present, notably a small delegation from the French House in Soho, for East End. We kept in touch regularly, not only in order to plan exhibitions, but to chat about photography. John was very generous with his advice and encouragement, and introduced me to Blurb books, of which he produced several dozen, in quite limited editions; his book on the East End, published by Spitalfields Press, sold out very quickly.

John will be sorely missed, by his many friends, by Mind’s Eye, and by me personally. Further information can be found on the Mind’s Eye website, mindseye.fr.

— Adrian Bondy, May 29, 2026

June 8 – July 14, 2024

Special evening: Monday June 10

6pm – 9pm

ORADOUR

This exhibition marks the 80th anniversary of the Oradour-sur-Glane massacre. On 10 June 1944, 643 inhabitants of this Limousin village were simultaneously executed by the Waffen SS and its buildings burnt down. The ruins have been preserved as a memorial to this humanitarian disaster.
Today’s terrible events are a grim reminder of man’s capacity for the worst horrors. Unfortunately, Oradour is just one of the uncountable such atrocities committed throughout the history of the world.
John Claridge visited Oradour-sur-Glane in February 2014. Our exhibition presents the powerful and moving photographs he brought back, recalling Piranesi’s magnificent etchings of the ruins of Rome.

It was a cold, early morning with a gusty wind that sent shivers down my spine. The heavy rain and threatening, dark clouds did not help.
As I took my first steps into Oradour-sur-Glane, it was deserted and filled with a sense of foreboding. Every street, building, automobile and house seemed to belong to a terrible sadness.
I had a feeling of entering, not just another time, but another dimension, with no escape.   — John Claridge

JOHN CLARIDGE

John Claridge was born in London’s East End in 1944. He began taking photographs at the age of eight with a plastic camera won at a local funfair. He left school at fifteen and took a job in the photography department at McCann-Erickson, becoming David Montgomery’s assistant. During his two years there, he was inspired by many, including the legendary designer Robert Brownjohn. When just seventeen, he turned up on the doorstep of Bill Brandt’s Hampstead home to present the renowned photographer with a print, and was received with courtesy and kindness. In 1963, he opened a studio near St. Paul’s Cathedral, specialising in magazine work and advertising. He pursued a career in advertising until recently, producing work for many large corporations. In 1967, he wrote, produced, and shot a controversial short film, Five Soldiers, about the American Civil War, with implicit allusion to the Vietnam War.

John Claridge has authored some fifty books, mostly published by his own company Lizard’s Eye, including Warriors, Heroes, Boxers (2018) and The Miners 1971 (2018), but also notably One Hundred Photographs (1988), for his exhibition at Hamilton’s Gallery, London, and East End (2016), published by Spitalfields Life Books.

He has received numerous awards from many organisations for his work in advertising and design, including London International Advertising Awards, Cannes International Advertising Festival, Design and Art Direction UK, Association of Photographers UK, The One Show New York, Clio Awards Worldwide USA and Creative Circle Awards.

John Claridge’s work is held in museums and private collections worldwide, notably the Arts Council of Great Britain, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Museum of Modern Art. He exhibits regularly in London.