About this artwork
This photograph was taken while McCullin was on assignment for ‘The Sunday Times Magazine’ and was first published as part of a photo-story entitled ‘War on the Home Front’ in December 1971. It is the third of three photographs taken within moments of each other that were originally published as a photo-sequence, providing a snapshot of the violence in Northern Ireland. McCullin has captured the decisive moments of this scene, framing it within the straight horizontal and vertical lines of the building behind the protagonists that are repeated by the rectangular form of the soldiers’ shields. The line of the windowsills set in the wall above is echoed by the plank of wood the young man has just launched at the soldiers, which is captured mid-air, mirroring the taut pose of his upper body. This compositional technique emphasises the movement and subsequent aggression in the image.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Don McCullin (born 1935) English
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title:The Bogside, Londonderry, Northern Ireland
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date created:1971; printed 2013
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materials:Gelatin silver print on paper
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measurements:27.50 x 42.50 cm (framed: 51.00 x 64.00 cm)
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object type:
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credit line:ARTIST ROOMS National Galleries of Scotland and Tate. Purchased with the assistance of the ARTIST ROOMS Fund, supported by the Henry Moore Foundation and Tate Members 2013
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accession number:AR01187
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gallery:
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subject:
Don McCullin
Don McCullin
Don McCullin is one of Britain's best known photojournalists. He made his name in the 1960s, covering most of the world's major conflicts for The Observer and then The Sunday Times. In Cyprus, Vietnam, Biafra and the Lebanon he provided direct and disturbing imagery of the effects of human cruelty...