David MOORE
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 1927 – 2003
Battersea Fun Fair, London
1951 London, Greater London, England
Photography, Photograph, gelatin silver photograph
Primary Insc: 11/11
signed and dated, verso,l.r."...1951/David moore...";stamp verso,l.r."photgraphy by/David Moore/100 Walker Street/North Sydney NSW/9299620"
image 49.0 h x 39.6 w cm
sheet 49.0 h x 39.6 w cm
Gift of David Moore 1983
Accession No: NGA 83.3404
© David Moore Estate
MORE DETAIL
David MOORE
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 1927 – 2003
Battersea Fun Fair, London
1951 London, Greater London, England
Creation Notes: duplicate print 76.1289.12 has date as 1952
Photography, Photograph, gelatin silver photograph
Support: cardboard
Primary Insc: 11/11
signed and dated, verso,l.r."...1951/David moore...";stamp verso,l.r."photgraphy by/David Moore/100 Walker Street/North Sydney NSW/9299620"
Secondary Insc: verso,l.r, pencil," London/The BAttersea Fun Fair/.../7 Years a Stranger exhbition"; ball point pen "Battersea Fun Fair-London"
image 49.0 h x 39.6 w cm
sheet 49.0 h x 39.6 w cm
Gift of David Moore 1983
Accession No: NGA 83.3404
© David Moore Estate
LESS DETAIL
The Festival of Britain was timed to open exactly 100 years after the Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park took place. In 1951, a fun fair at the Festival Gardens in Battersea on the South Bank of the Thames was part of the festival attractions. It proved so popular that it remained in operation after the close of the festival. Millions of Londoners would spend their weekends and bank holidays on the many rides and attractions which famously included the Big Dipper rollercoaster and the Water Chute. The amusement park was intended to take the public’s mind off the austerities that long followed the war – austerities that included food rationing and housing shortages. The pleasure found in escaping the worries of everyday life is memorably captured by Moore’s camera.
Text © National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 2010
