Open Skies

by Don McCullin

Known for his war photography, this new collection includes a few of Don McCullin's war pictures as well as bleakly beautiful still-lifes. Environmental concerns and rural England are foremost subjects with cloudscapes and leafless horizons. Don McCullin has taken his photographs all over the world and on its many battlegrounds, notably Vietnam, Biafra and the Lebanon. He has won many awards and has twice been voted Photographer of the Year. His published works incude "Hearts of Darkness" introduced by John le Carre, "The Destruction Business" and " A City in Crisis".

Genres: Photography

Hardcover

First published June 1, 1989

About the author

Don McCullin grew up in north London and was evacuated in 1940 to Somerset. He failed the eleven-plus examination and went to Tollington Park Secondary Modern School. He won a trade art scholarship to the Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts and Buildings. His father, who was an invalid, died, aged forty and McCullin was forced to find work to earn money for the family. He became a pantry boy on the London, Midland and Scottish Railway dining cars, travelling between London and Manchester. In 1950 he went to work in a cartoon animation studio in Mayfair before the Observer newspaper bought one of his gangland pictures and set him on the road as a photojournalist. He moved to the Sunday Times, where he worked for eighteen years. His photographs of almost every major conflict in his adult lifetime until the Falklands war provide some of the most potent images of the twentieth century. His pictures are in major museum collections all over the world. He is the holder of many honours and awards, including the C.B.E. His home is in a Somerset village.

Reviews

[Chris Lilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because these photographs are by McCullin, I half-expect to see Grunts with M-16s in the Somerset ditches. But still, these are lovely. Wet, grim, but lovely.