Kurt Hutton
George Meryl at "The Silver Lady's Kitchen" (from "They had no Work"), 1938
Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
24.5 x 20.1 cms
9 10/16 x 7 14/16 ins
Series: 3. The Silver Lady's Kitchen. Poverty and Unemployment
11800
The 14th January 1939 issue of Picture Post magazine included a feature on unemployment entitled 'They Had No Work'. For this article Kurt Hutton took a number of photographs at...
The 14th January 1939 issue of Picture Post magazine included a feature on unemployment entitled "They Had No Work". For this article Kurt Hutton took a number of photographs at the Silver Lady's Kitchen in Trafalgar Square, London, where proprietor Betty Baxter (nicknamed 'The Silver Lady' for her donations of a silver sixpence to her many patrons) offered a free meal to the area's homeless.
This is one of a group of strikingly dramatic character studies of the people there, beautifully lit as though by candle or lamp-light. It was part of a feature in Picture Post that gave a human face to poverty and unemployment.
Each portrait subject is identified by name and captioned with a short biographical note. The present photograph was omitted from the published story - perhaps because it is less close up than the published faces - but has a caption on the reverse that is consistent with the other works in the series:
"George Meryle - a dark horse never talks to anyone..... "no mind". "
This is one of a group of strikingly dramatic character studies of the people there, beautifully lit as though by candle or lamp-light. It was part of a feature in Picture Post that gave a human face to poverty and unemployment.
Each portrait subject is identified by name and captioned with a short biographical note. The present photograph was omitted from the published story - perhaps because it is less close up than the published faces - but has a caption on the reverse that is consistent with the other works in the series:
"George Meryle - a dark horse never talks to anyone..... "no mind". "