…Photography isn’t just about composing the image, it is in the magic and science of developing the image – creating the art form, not just a photo
Ander Gunn
We are very sorry to say that Ander Gunn has died. We have exhibited his distinctive photographs since 2007, first at The Wills Lane Gallery, St. Ives and more recently in London.
Ander started photographing in the 50’s using an analogue camera and developing his own prints, almost always in black and white. At that time he lived in London and shot London scenes, actors and authors including his brother the poet Thom Gunn.
In the 60’s he moved to St. Just, Cornwall where he photographed many of the artists living around there such as Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, Barbara Hepworth, Patrick Heron, Roger Hilton, Rose Hilton and Karl Weschke. His photographs are often to be found in the exhibition catalogues of these artists.
From 1975 he lived in Yorkshire and worked for Yorkshire Television and then in 1984 returned to West Penwith where he photographed miners, his family, artists, landscape and the sea.
He died in Cornwall on November 21, 2024
Charlotte Gunn (Ander Gunn’s daughter) from the catalogue Ander Gunn Seven Decades: Wherever we lived, Ander would put together a darkroom. He would disappear for hours into these cave-like spaces with the smell of developing chemicals, the sound of a radio, the red glow of a safe light, enlargers, developing trays and the ticking of timers. Watching my father at work felt like being with a magician conjuring up images that floated into life. Time always seemed to melt away. It was a very magical experience.
To wash his photographs Ander had to use the bath; large prints of people, landscapes and seascapes floated as we cleaned our teeth. I’d often see people that I recognised locally – Roger Hilton, Patrick Heron, a tin miner, a farmer with his cattle. Other familiar faces included writers and artists such as Tom Stoppard, Barbara Hepworth, Jean Rhys, Karl Weschke, Brenda Wootton and my uncle the poet Thom Gunn – Ander’s brother.
Public collections:
The Box, Plymouth Museum and Art Gallery
The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield
Bought by the Tim Sayer Bequest for gift to The Hepworth Wakefield:
Teddington 1966 No.6 of Ed.15
Recent exhibitions:
2007-2024
Exhibited by Petronilla Silver at Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall;
Cape Cornwall, Cornwall and at Petronilla Silver, London
2023
Ander Gunn Seven Decades Jackson Foundation, St. Just, Cornwall (solo)
2018
Where Art Meets Craft, Petronilla Silver at 8 Holland Street, London
2017
More than Meets the Eye Petronilla Silver at Tremenheere Gallery, Sculpture Park and Gardens, Penzance, Cornwall
Publications:
2022-2023
Ander Gunn Seven Decades
Jackson Foundation exhibition catalogue
1966
Positives, Verses by Thom Gunn Photographs by Ander Gunn
Published by Faber and Faber
