John Hinde — Postcards

E. Ludwig,
East Africa Picnic Game Park, Longleat, Wiltshire
© John Hinde Collection - John Hinde Ltd

LondonArt & Culture

Postcards from the Past

Colour photograph archive reveals a different era...

Seaside nostalgia seems to be a bit of a thing at the moment, and there are no better examples than the ’60s and ’70s postcards from the John Hinde Limited Archive, getting digitally dusted off for a fresh airing at The Photographer’s Gallery. Hinde and his team of photographers – Elmar Ludwig, Edmund Nägele and David Noble – hit up some of the nation’s favourite holiday spots during the height of homegrown holiday popularity and, through a use of wonderfully rich colour, captured the natural and man-made beauty perfectly.

Keen eyed readers will of course have noted the giraffes in our first picture, and probably wondered when giraffes started roaming the beaches of Britain. Well they aren’t all seaside locations, smarty pants, but our favourites from the collection generally are. John Hinde is synonymous with postcards, starting his business in 1956 after briefly leaving photography for a bizarre and failed attempt to start up his own circus in Ireland. As it turned out, circus audiences’ loss was colour photography’s gain, and his archive is one of the richest sources of early British colour images. TPG are making ten photographs from the archive available as prints for the first time, and the exhibition and sale will take place from today, 1st August to 20th October.

Postcards, John Hinde

E. Nagele,
Bottons Funfair at Night, Great Yarmouth,
© John Hinde Collection – John Hinde Ltd

Postcards, John Hinde

John Hinde,
On The Road To Keem Strand, Achill Island, Co, Ireland
© John Hinde Collection – John Hinde Ltd

Postcards, John Hinde

E. Ludwig,
The Dreamland Amusement Park, Margate
© John Hinde Collection – John Hinde Ltd

Postcards, John Hinde

E. Ludwig
l Motor Racing at St. Ouen’s Bay, Jersey, C.I
© John Hinde Collection – John Hinde Ltd

Postcards, John Hinde

E. Ludwig,
Pentewan Sands, Cornwall
© John Hinde Collection – John Hinde Ltd