A new year is starting. Time to reflect on where we come from and where we want to go.
The London office at Bridgeman is a very international and multicultural team. Using the archive as inspiration, we asked them to tell us something about their heritage and memories of growing up in various parts of the world. Here some answers:
Giulia Leali, Account Manager International Sales and Agent Partners, has Japan in her heart:
‘A nostalgic view of the Mt Fuji. This image is so simple and linear, yet very powerful. It reminds me of an old postcard forgotten in someone’s attic.’
Left: Giulia Leali
Right: ‘Fuji in Clear Weather’, from the series ’36 Views of Mount Fuji’ (Fugaku sanjurokkei), Katsushika Hokusai / Musee Guimet, Paris, France
Lucy Innes Williams, Bridgeman Artists Manager: it’s going to be Singapore.
‘My image depicts a Singapore street scene during Chinese New Year. I like that the photo is so full of energy, which is exactly how I remember the Singapore of my childhood. The heat, noise and festivities are conveyed loudly and the backdrop of Mandarin and English text against an old renovated shopfront jostle together brilliantly.’
Left: Lucy Innes Williams
Right: Chinese New Year fair (b/w photo)
Carlos Borrageiro, I.T. Hero, goes for his South African heritage:
Just as this flag expresses freedom and diversity, so does Bridgemanimages. The freedom to express yourself and work within an environment without restrictions due to height, race or religion. The diversity to express multiple means of resolution from different perspectives to overcome a give problem.
Left: The South African flag fluttering in a clear blue sky above a prison / Jason Edwards / National Geographic Creative
Right: Carlos Borrageiro
Alessandro Conficoni, Sales Director, discloses his technique to pass university tests:
This image reminds me of my university years. Few know that Dante died in exile and he was buried in a modest neo-classical tomb in Ravenna, where his remains rested ever since despite Michelangelo’s attempts to bring him back to Florence. As a student, I would abide to the tradition of stopping in front of the tomb on my way to every exam and pray to the Supreme Poet for his help. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t always work.
Left: Alessandro Conficoni
Right: Portrait of Dante (oil on canvas) by Sandro Botticelli
Pablo Navarro MacLochlainn, Cataloguing Department, on Ireland:
My dad lives here. It’s pretty much the same except most people have shoes now; that lady is probably still alive and working on the till at Spar.
Left: Pablo Navarro MacLochlainn
Right: Woman washing clothes in the open air with rainwater, Claddagh, Galway, Ireland / Sean Sexton Collection
David Price-Hughes, International Sales Manager, goes back to childhood memories in Malaysia:
“I spent my childhood in Malaysia, returning to Britain when I was twelve. This painting by Laila Shawa brings back for me three of my strongest memories of growing up in Kuala Lumpur: the intense humidity, the almost Technicolor flora and fauna, and the incessant sound of crickets chirping.”
Left: Rain Forest, Malaysia, 1990 (acrylic on canvas) by Laila Shawa
Right: David Price-Hughes, aged 10
Jack Mayne, Chief Operating Officer, remembers the Australian sun:
Whilst I am not quite that old, this image does remind me of my childhood days, down at the beach with my parents. We would happily spend the entire day there and come home very sunburnt.
Left: Jack Mayne
Right: Form at Bondi, 1939, Max Dupain / Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Anja Reinthaler, Marketing Assistant, remembers Austrian’s mountains:
When I was a younger my family would regularly drag me on hiking trips – oh how I used to hate them! Since then I’ve come to appreciate being outside and I always make sure to squeeze a hike in with friends or family whenever I’m back home in Austria (with a slightly more up to date choice of clothes though!).
Left: Anja Reinthaler
Right: Guide leads climbers up 9,725ft Zugspitze on Tyrol-Bavaria border (autochrome), Hans Hildenbrand / National Geographic Creative
Raffello Bertini, I.T. Developer, takes a poetic (masonic) twist:
A Song of Liberty, William Blake
THE ETERNAL FEMALE groan’d! It was heard over all the Earth.
Albion’s coast is sick, silent. The American meadows faint!
Shadows of Prophecy shiver along by the lakes and the rivers, and mutter across the ocean. France, rend down thy dungeon!
Golden Spain, burst the barriers of old Rome!
Cast thy keys, O Rome! into the deep, down falling, even to eternity down falling,
And weep.
In her trembling hands she took the new-born terror, howling.
On those infinite mountains of light, now barr’d out by the Atlantic sea, the new-born fire stood before the starry king!
Let the Priests of the Raven of dawn no longer, in deadly black, with hoarse note curse the sons of joy!
Nor his accepted brethren—whom, tyrant,
he calls free—lay the bound or build the roof!
Nor pale Religion’s lechery call that Virginity that wishes but acts not!
Left: The Ancient of Days (etching with pen and ink, w/c & bodycolour on paper) by William Blake
Right: Raffaello Bertini
“By being a man, free born, of lawful age, and under the tongue of good report. In search of light.” Blindfolded accepted.
Holly Taylor, Account Manager, goes for sunny L.A. :
I actually worked on the cross section of La Brea Av and Beverly Boulevard where this image was taken. I love how the image really gives the viewer a sense of the huge scale of the city just from one shot; the mountains in the background that are always in view, the wide, open car filled streets and, of course, the never ending blue sky. Fun fact – there is actually a Banksy mural on the wall of that petrol station now that has been encased in perspex!
Left: Beverly Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, Los Angeles, California, June 21, 1975 (photo), Stephen Shore, (b.1947) Photo © Christie’s Images
Right: Holly (hugging a cardboard cut out of Kevin Bacon in Apollo 13)
Milly Graham-Watson, Personal Assistant to Harriet Bridgeman, talks about her Parisian past:
I grew up in Paris in the 17th until I was 6. This picture of the dancers was what, at the age of 4, I was hoping to look like! Although the picture of myself beside Degas suggests otherwise, I had a very happy childhood growing up in a building filled with family and walking to and from my school Blanche de Castille.
Left: The Dancing Class, Edgar Degas, / Musee d’Orsay, Paris
Right: Milly Graham-Watson (Far right)
Paola Fumagalli, Marketing Assistant, comes from Lake Como (or Naboo in Star Wars lingo)
I come from this beautiful place, and you don’t need special effect… it really is this magic! Fun fact: Lake Como ( Naboo) is where Anakin and Padme got married in Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
Left: Paola Fumagalli in Como (second frm left)
Right: Lake Como (aquatint), Alferd Hartley / Dallas Museum of Art, Texas, USA / gift of Mrs. A.E. Zonne
Holly Webster, Footage Manager, a Real Londoner:
“London today is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, which is the main reason I love it so much and have never opted to live elsewhere! But I also love watching historical footage of the city I grew up in. London’s buildings, streets, atmosphere and rhythm are so well known to me, there is something almost magical about recognising these elements in a film made decades before I was born – such as the all-too-familiar rush hour stampede, different and yet the same, in the 1930s!
Since childhood, I have always been a loyal fan of London’s various markets, so these clips are also favourites of mine.”
Left: Rush hour in 1930s London / Brian Trenerry Archive
Right: “In my Shepherd’s Bush neighbourhood c.1990. The now vintage-looking cars make me feel old!!”
Yvonne Besser, Account Manager International Sales and Partners, loves clever design and the Bauhaus:
“Whilst studying Art History in Jena, which is close to Weimar, I especially loved lectures about Bauhaus architecture and I’m always interested in the ways human beings build their environment. The Serpentine Gallery Pavillon presents every year surprising architectural constructions.”
Left: Bauhaus Design (colour litho), German School / The Stapleton Collection
Right: Yvonne Besser at the Serpentine Pavillon in 2015
“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”
Rainer Maria Rilke