Exhibitions

The John Hinde Butlin's Photographs – Our True Intent is all for your Delight

May 1 - Jun 13 2004

Butlin’s Holiday Camps are a unique British institution conceived by Billy Butlin for post-war Britain. He dreamt of a holiday centre for the great mass of working-class families, where they could have a good time irrespective of the unreliable British weather.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the photographer, innovator and entrepreneur John Hinde, a key figure in the development of the colour photograph as a postcard, set about recording the ‘social revolution’ that was Butlin’s. Hinde’s postcards not only provide a valuable documentation of the Butlin's phenomenon, but an account of the rise of leisure society in post war Britain. Set apart from the more romantic, black and white documentary images of Britain at that time, these images have been overlooked by the history of photography. This exhibition provides an opportunity to re-assess their importance.

Through the bold use of colour throughout the frame, cutting edge printing techniques and his use of props and narrative content, the Hinde postcards quickly established a competitive advantage over rival manufacturers. In the 1960s Hinde’s success attracted the attention of Billy Butlin who commissioned him to develop a range of colour postcards of his holiday camps. By 1965 Hinde had given up doing the day-to-day photography himself and was using the young German photographers, Elmar Ludwig and Edmund Nägele, later joined by the British photographer David Noble.

Following an exhibition from the archive of Hinde’s work in 1993 at The Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, this is the premier touring exhibition dedicated to the Butlin’s photographs.

Photographs by Elmar Ludwig, Edmund Nägele and David Noble

Exhibition curated by Martin Parr

Produced by Chris Boot

In association with Les Rencontres d’Arles