The London Art World: 1979-1999

This book is a personal, photographic diary-record of twenty years of the London art world, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the London Art and Artists Guide. John Russell Taylor has written an illuminating introduction, showing how these photographs are a personal record of who was who and what was what on the London art scene of the 1980s and the 1990s. These photographs will be seen in the future as a social document, showing how exhibitions have changed over twenty years. This book is an insider's visual diary to the London art world, showing how it can be like the theater stage, with players waiting in the wings: having deadaches, hangovers, heartache and coping with gossip, pressure, competition and occasionally auditioning for the limelight, which can be brief or of long duration depending on passing trends. Center stage are David Hockney, Allen Jones and other lesser known artists, beside art dealers, critics, curators who appear in and out of exhibitions, studios and at art fairs. "Even putting aside the frequent beauty of these images as images, for anyone who needs to look beyond easy nostalgia and use them as a learning tool, the collection should be a treasure trove indeed. - John Russell Taylor, Times, London