Saturday Night Sunday Morning: The authentic moment in British photography

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is a sensational new exhibition inspired by Alan Sillitoe’s groundbreaking novel, published in 1958, and the 1960 film adaptation, directed by Karel Reisz.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning ‘helped frame its cultural moment’. Taking seminal moments from book and film, this exhibition explores the depiction of social change in contemporary photography, focusing in particular on working-class culture in the late 50s and 60s. It highlights the various approaches taken by a generation of photographers drawn to ‘the regions’ in an attempt to capture the authenticity of ‘ordinary lives’.

The exhibition features a selection of previously un-exhibited photographic Stills from Reisz’s film, together with work produced by the so-called ‘Young Meteors’, John Bulmer, Graham Finlayson and Terence Donovan, working for The Manchester Guardian and the latest print media magazines. Independent work by Roger Mayne and Shirley Baker also contributes to the show, alongside pictures by industrial photographer Maurice Broomfield. These works are complemented by an array of accomplished local professional and amateur photographers.

Drawing its material from Nottingham and the Midlands, the Black Country and Manchester, the exhibition Saturday Night and Sunday Morning captures the essence of Sillitoe’s world, and the country at a point of profound cultural change. It has been curated for the Djanogly Art Gallery by Anna Douglas and Neil Walker, assisted by Damian Hughes

Running concurrently with Saturday Night and Sunday Morning in the Angear Visitor Centre is an exhibition of Stills by Dean Rogers. A graduate of Nottingham Trent University, Dean Rogers has, for the last ten years, worked closely with some of our most talented film directors including Shane Meadows and Anton Corbijn. Commonly picturing actors ‘off set’ and employing a cinematic approach to lighting, his photographs are full of narrative possibility and emotion. This exhibition complements the selection of film stills included in the Saturday Night and Sunday Morning exhibition.