Object Description
Kabool, ‘Avenue of Trees’, 2001 by John Reardon
Edition of 1/7
Hand printed Silver Gelatin Print, Mounted on Aluminium, Custom framed, UV protective Museum AR Glass
This piece was part of “John Readon: (after) Whistlejacket – Contemporary Equine Photographs exhibition at MMX Gallery, London in 2023.
The show explored an artistic way of photographing horses.
“Racehorses, and the people in their realm, turned out to be his ideal subjects. Reardon’s eye found the elegance, power, and plaintive vulnerability of whatever settled before his camera, and the thoroughbred is abound with elegance, power and vulnerability.”
“These photographs of thoroughbred stallions, began as a half-derided summer job – ‘Just commercial work!’ John would wince, appalled by the revolting vulgarity of privilege and prosperity. It lasted 16 years, almost until his death at 66, five years ago. Back when it all began – on the eve of his 50th birthday and after photographing 14 wars and untold natural disasters for news pages and Sunday supplements, the kind of stark, stylish foreign forays that newspaper budgets would less and less stretch to – he might have feared that he was retiring to grass. In fact, it was to be one last wild ride.”
John Reardon – (1951 – 2018) was a British photographer, born in Cape Town. He studied film and photography at Birmingham University. In 1979, he was part of the photographer’s group who set up Ten 8 magazine – a seminal quarterly that focused on British photography, and lasted until 1993. Reardon collaborated to publish Home Front in 1984, published by Random House and later exhibited at The Photographer’s Gallery. He began as a freelance photojournalist and picture editor in 1979.
He started shooting for The Observer in the mid 1980s, beginning a distinguished career in photojournalism that saw him photographing war and humanitarian stories in Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, to name a few.
In 1993, he joined the prestigious Independent Photographers Group set up by John Easterby. The same year, he left for war- torn Kabul, Afghanistan, and the outstanding results, displayed sumptuously in the Observer Magazine, saw his work gain global recognition at the World Press Awards. Reardon was invited to apply to join Magnum Photos; he refused, the story goes, because his portfolio “wasn’t ready”.
He continued to produce photo essays for the paper; including the war in Kosovo, and the aftermath of 9/11. In 2001, he began to produce ground-breaking portraits of chefs. His work is part of Autograph ABP (Handsworth Self Portraits, 1979 series) and the National Portrait Gallery collection in London including a famous ‘Last Supper’ shot with 12 Michelin-starred chefs featuring Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, Michel Roux Jr and Raymond Blanc. This coincided with his experimental work for the Darley Stud in 2001.
(after) Whistlejacket – Contemporary Equine Photographs – a solo exhibition of works by John Reardon at MMX Gallery (2023), was the first time these images were exhibited.
A selection of works from the exhibition have been acquired by various private collections, notably the Hermès Collection of Contemporary Photographs since November 2023.