Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, never a truer word than this statement.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, never a truer word than this statement.

 

Stevenage High Street in the early 50's later called Stevenage Old Town

 

Stevenage New Town in the 50's

 I attended a lecture recently where a photographer was showing us his pictures taken with no artificial lighting or props support of the varying 'overspill' towns created in the early 50's as a result of the London and Glasgow bombing of World War 11 and the need to rehouse large sections of their population.

These towns which were categorised as 'New Towns' were created around this part of the country north of London particularly Stevenage, Harlow, Hemel Hempstead, Hatfield, Corby, Peterborough and latterly Milton Keynes.

I was born about 3 miles south of Stevenage in Knebworth and I  remember well the kerfuffle at the time as many people in Stevenage, that became known as Stevenage Old Town together with the out lying villages such as Knebworth, were up in arms that their idyll and tranquillity were going to be lost forever. Life hasn't changed much on that front when we think of the Nimbys(not in my back yard syndrome) and the continual protestations concerning Heathrow expansion, the HS2 London to Birmingham rail link and it would appear any building developments close to where any of us might live!!!

 

Lewis Silkin the Minister of Town and Country Planning in Clement Atlee's government came down to Stevenage to explain the 'overspill' initiative and having gained forward knowledge of the visit 'the locals' changed the signpost for Stevenage to Silkingrad.

I remember murmurings at home about Silkin's visit and that my father who was one of many 'locals' that didn't wish at the time for change that he and a few pals gave Silkin a hard time and whilst he was in the Town Hall  they poured sand into the petrol tank of his car that necessitated him finding alternative ways of getting back to London!!!

 

I'm certainly not a purist but would admit that the town planners of these 'new towns' on occasions took my breath away with what I perceived to be quite horrible architecture, the houses and terraces invariably being rows of boxes with no endearing features or the charm of the houses they were living in prior to being bombed.

So it was a little bit of a surprise to me when the lecturer suggested with the help of a series of pictures that there were many intrinsic elements of these now 'tired' new towns that should be viewed as monuments of beauty.

The pictures, as I've already said, were not enhanced with any of the photographer's tricks and were always shot without a particular focal point there being no persons or cars or any other distractions other than the bland and lifeless representative shots of what was before him and also in the main full on with no clever or intriguing angles.

I've been 'clipping' photography for some years now and have formed a view as to what turns the majority of us on and I sometimes come to the conclusion that 'when' an art form has been expressed every which way over the years/centuries there isn't much room to make a novel statement and we end up being asked to accept the indifferent as plausible , acceptable and to be admired. 

 

I have been close to creative students for many years now and I would admit to being terrified as to where the many many talented students will find employment.

In days past in the Fashion sector the design houses from around the world used to attend all the colleges cat walk shows and subsequently hire the 'chosen' ones. I'm not saying that they still don't still follow this path but the competition of 'numbers' from so many different  cities around the world is terrifying!

I think I can understand the overall thinking of promoting the creative sector alongside the financial sector as a sequel to the demise of general manufacturing in the 80's but the number of talented and well qualified graduates coming on stream unnerves me.

At the time of the Mayoral election campaign  for London in 2008 where eventually Boris Johnson became Mayor, the incumbent Mayor -Ken Livingstone in his unsuccessful re election campaign quoted at the time that there were 800,000 people employed in the CREATIVE SECTOR in London.

It all begs the question as to where the graduates of today are going to find jobs?

We're currently witnessing an explosion of new and refreshing 'start ups'  so I suspect that a good wedge of these are 'creatives'?

 

MY HEART FELT GOOD LUCK TO ALL THOSE STUDENTS IN THE CREATIVE SECTOR

ACCEPTING THAT THE WORLDWIDE PROBLEMS OF RECESSIONARY FORCES AND 'THE NEED TO GET OUT' LONDON HAS AN AMAZING AMOUNT OF 'NEW MONEY' WASHING AROUND AND IT IS CONFIRMED DAILY THAT ART CAN BE A PRUDENT AND WISE INVESTMENT AND HENCE THE INCREDIBLE INCREASE IN GALLERIES IN LONDON THE MAJORITY OF WHICH ARE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART AND INSTALLATIONS

 

All images used on the Leslie Creasey Blog are from my hand clipped archive documenting 35 years of Style and Design media.  For all enquiries please contact leslie@charismatic-brands.com.