Cricket, Addison Place, 1957

Swann Galleries, auction, New York, 4 April 2012, lot 16 Estate of Roger Noakes

Roger Mayne is best known for his photojournalism of the 1950s and 1960s. Capturing the working class people of London in the poor postwar streets, he focused on the North Kensington area on Southam Street and Addison Place. These areas were largely demolished and nearly uninhabitable but teeming with beauty and life in the interactions he captured. Mayne was able to contribute greatly to the formation of a visual identity for what life in London looked like following the war. Mayne states that love is his reason for photographing these areas: “the streets have their own kind of beauty, a kind of decaying splendor and always great atmosphere - whether romantic on a hazy winter day, or listless when the summer is hot; sometimes it is forbidding; or it may be warm and friendly on a sunny spring weekend when the street is swarming with children playing, or adults walking through or standing gossiping. I remember my excitement when I turned the corner into Southam Street, a street I have since returned to again and again.” This image captures one of those children playing during a game of cricket, anticipating the catch.