Jane Bown: The Eyes Have It
From Nixon to the Beatles, Bette Davis to U2… Over the past 60 years, The Observer’s Jane Bown has photographed many of the world’s greatest personalities. On the eve of her retrospective, she talks to Robin McKie about her life’s work
via the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/oct/18/jane-bown-photographer-retrospective-exposures
But evidence that you are in the presence of one of the greats of 20th-century photography is notably missing – until you are directed down a hallway to the furthest part of the house, where Jane has ferreted away some of her favourite images. This is the Bown hall of fame: a laughing Mick Jagger, a mini-skirted Cilla Black drinking tea, a happy-looking Gordon Brown and a group of photographs of everyday life in 20th-century Britain. These pictures have their place in her life but it is clear, from their position, that they do not rule it. Friends and family matter above all to Jane, to the extent that most of my day with her last month was dominated by gossip about old colleagues. Her observations were typically sharp and to the point.