David Peat

An Eye on the Street, Glasgow 1968 (Demolished street with man)

About this artwork

What is absent often tells the biggest story. This photograph shows the scars left by the demolition of a tenement block. The last traces of abandoned fireplaces still cling to the  neighbouring building and young children continue to play in the rubble. In the 1960s, barely 100 years after Thomas Annan had documented the old streets of Glasgow, the city  was facing another housing crisis. Further population growth and bomb damage from the Second World War were putting strain on already crumbling Victorian housing. Tenements were gradually disappearing   as the city transitioned to tower block complexes and suburban housing.

Published October 2023

  • artist:
    David Peat (1947 - 2012) Scottish
  • title:
    An Eye on the Street, Glasgow 1968 (Demolished street with man)
  • date created:
    1968
  • materials:
    Gelatin silver print
  • measurements:
    image size: 25.30 x 38.10 cm
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Gifted in memory of the photographer by the Peat family 2013
  • accession number:
    PGP 835.44
  • gallery:
  • subject:
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David Peat

David Peat