London is, undoubtedly, one of the great, iconic cities of the world. Bearing witness to centuries of extraordinary history, it has seen a king plough through six queens...
London is, undoubtedly, one of the great, iconic cities of the world. Bearing witness to centuries of extraordinary history, it has seen a king plough through six queens, taken the ravages of fire and plague, stood firm through bombing raids and the Swinging Sixties, watched the rise and fall of government, smouldered damply through the Queen’s Jubilee flotilla, and, most recently, exploded in a celebration of sporting excellence for the 2012 Olympics. And, as the world’s gaze moves reluctantly away from east London’s Olympic Park, with amazing memories and a new concept of Britishness defined by Danny Boyle’s ingeniously eccentric Opening Ceremony, Taschen produces a book in tribute to the British capital: London: Portrait of a City.
"A rich tapestry of images, quotes, movie references and essays exploring and celebrating London over the past 150 years, the book picks through the many faces of the city"
A rich tapestry of images, quotes, movie references and essays exploring and celebrating London over the past 150 years, the book picks through the many faces of the city. There is turn of the century London – with moustachioed recruiting sergeants loitering outside pubs and horse-drawn carriage gridlock in Covent Garden. There is London at war – families picking through the rubble of their homes while Bill Brandt captures a sleeping woman as air raid spotlights strafe the sky outside her bedroom. There is London as the heart of Cool Brittania – coquettish Charlotte Rampling, complete with beehive, and Beatlemania. And there is London as a booming centre of commerciality, from Piccadilly Circus radiant in neon Coca-Cola signs in the fifties to the Gherkin, at once an architectural triumph and a gleaming temple to profit and success. This is London without apology – the home of great fashion and great poverty, street parties and workman’s pubs, the best music and the most humiliating political scandals. All facets of London are here, and, after the past weeks, there couldn’t be a better place to celebrate.
London: Portrait of a City is out now, published by Taschen.
Text by Tish Wrigley
