Comments on: Upon The Subject Of C A Mathew’s Pictures https://spitalfieldslife.com/2014/03/06/upon-the-subject-of-c-a-mathew%e2%80%99s-pictures/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:02:44 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: david prescott https://spitalfieldslife.com/2014/03/06/upon-the-subject-of-c-a-mathew%e2%80%99s-pictures/#comment-1032935 Tue, 06 Oct 2015 15:02:44 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=108894#comment-1032935 just love all of these photos keep them coming.

]]> By: Alan Racheter https://spitalfieldslife.com/2014/03/06/upon-the-subject-of-c-a-mathew%e2%80%99s-pictures/#comment-653363 Mon, 24 Nov 2014 00:22:34 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=108894#comment-653363 This collection was published some years ago by the Bishopsgate Institute and the excuse given was that the photographer was killing some time while waiting for his train. That now seems not to be the case.

]]> By: Hidden London https://spitalfieldslife.com/2014/03/06/upon-the-subject-of-c-a-mathew%e2%80%99s-pictures/#comment-255848 Fri, 07 Mar 2014 09:34:05 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=108894#comment-255848 A fascinating article and interpretation of the photographs. Also intriguing to speculate on what plans may have been afoot!

]]> By: isa https://spitalfieldslife.com/2014/03/06/upon-the-subject-of-c-a-mathew%e2%80%99s-pictures/#comment-255697 Fri, 07 Mar 2014 00:00:13 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=108894#comment-255697 Stunning photographs showing .a bygone time of people and places captured for ever.

]]> By: Peter Holford https://spitalfieldslife.com/2014/03/06/upon-the-subject-of-c-a-mathew%e2%80%99s-pictures/#comment-255530 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 11:37:52 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=108894#comment-255530 Tremendous piece of research that gives context to the photos and thereby provides information the eye doesn’t necessarily see. That is the tragedy of so many old photos, especially the family albums of nameless people whose names were not matched to the photos.

]]> By: Achim https://spitalfieldslife.com/2014/03/06/upon-the-subject-of-c-a-mathew%e2%80%99s-pictures/#comment-255525 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 11:13:13 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=108894#comment-255525 Yes, such were the times. — Nowadays those people are suspiciously “observed”, who DO NOT play and take photos with their smartphone (because they haven’t got one luckily) …

Love & Peace
ACHIM

]]> By: Libby Hall https://spitalfieldslife.com/2014/03/06/upon-the-subject-of-c-a-mathew%e2%80%99s-pictures/#comment-255455 Thu, 06 Mar 2014 07:17:16 +0000 http://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=108894#comment-255455 The amazing detailed research Vicky Stewart had done on C.A. Mathew has made what seem, to me, to be quite ordinary photographs into something far more special. Knowing who this man was who took these really quite pedestrian photographs, and why he took them, give that one day in 1912 an even more magical feeling of a run-of-the-mill day frozen in time.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century the London County Council commissioned hundreds of absolutely superb quality photographs that are available today in beautifully reproduced books – photographs taken by mostly anonymous photographers. Compared to those photographs I think it’s important the Mathew’s photographs are not romanticised into something they are not. Vicky Stewart’s meticulous research and the Gentle Author’s interpretation of that research, give us a far more realistic and grounded sense of what these photographs were than some of the more exaggerated hyperbole that seems to be surrounding this photographer at the moment.

]]>