Announced today, a selection of remarkable and beautiful photographs by Walter and Rita Nurnberg capturing post-war working life in three Norwich factories will go on display from 21 October 2023 at Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery. The Nurnbergs photographed factories and their workers across the UK in the post-war period, including three Norwich manufacturing institutions – Boulton and Paul, Mackintosh-Caley, and Edwards & Holmes.
As well as capturing the craft and industry of the subjects and their labours, they also applied a stunning modernist visual aesthetic to their documentation of a city striving to rebuild itself economically after the war. The resulting black and white images – which owe as much to Rita’s skilful printing as they do to Walter’s compositions – are both a fascinating record of this key period in British social history and timeless works of art in their own right.
From 21 October, visitors to Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery will be able to see the Nurnberg’s wonderful images on display for the first time since their pioneering Camera in Industry exhibition at the Castle in 1953, 70 years ago. The exhibition will showcase the Nurnberg’s distinctive and influential photographic practice, focusing on the extraordinary visual record they created of Norwich’s working communities during a pivotal moment of massive societal and cultural change.
It will include over 130 original photographic prints representing three key Norwich Works: shoe-making at Edwards & Holmes’ Esdelle Works; steel construction, woodworking and wire netting at Boulton & Paul’s Riverside Works; and sweet-making at Caley-Mackintosh’s Chapelfield Works. The photos will be displayed alongside objects from Norwich Castle’s own collections relating to the city’s industrial past and newly digitised archive film.
The exhibition is a partnership between Norfolk Museums Service, The University of East Anglia, Norfolk Record Office and The East Anglian Film Archive.
The exhibition is curated by Dr Nick Warr, Lecturer in Art History and Curation at the University of East Anglia, Academic Director of The East Anglian Film Archive and Curator of Photographic Collections (UEA), and Dr Simon Dell, Associate Professor of Art History at the University of East Anglia.
Describing the origins of the exhibition and the significance of Walter and Rita’s work they say: “A serendipitous invitation to advise on a photograph album at the Museum of Norwich back in 2019 initiated the discovery of a wonderful collection of rare photographic prints at the Museum and the Norfolk Record Office. East Anglia has a rich photographic heritage, but the dramatic images made by Walter and Rita Nurnberg of post-war Norwich industry are distinctive for their vivid and empathetic portrayal of Norwich factory workers. Our perception of the past is shaped by the old photographs we see. The ubiquity of anonymous, sepia-toned images of yesteryear reinforces the divide we feel between then and now. With their stylized, monochrome compositions, the images of the past that the Nurnbergs have left us possess the immediacy of the present, as the hands and faces of the workers they depict still feel within our reach.”
Margaret Dewsbury, Cabinet Member for Communities, Norfolk County Council says: “Norwich is more often associated with its picturesque medieval heritage but this exhibition is a powerful reminder that industry has always been a vitally important part of city life. The Nurnbergs’ respect for the workers and their work shines through in the artistic care with which they captured their subjects. The result is a moving exhibition which will enable visitors to rediscover a remarkable photographic legacy.”
German émigré, Walter Nurnberg (1907-91), a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, was already a celebrated photographer in 1948 when he embarked on a 13-year project to document Norwich’s major industries. Together with his wife, Rita (1914 - 2001), they brought the aesthetic of the Bauhaus and the dramatic lighting of Expressionist cinema to bear on the factory environment – both the machinery of its production lines and the people who operated them.
Their beautiful, stylised compositions occasionally border on the surreal. Mysterious machinery casts dramatic shadows while striking portraits of workers lean into the glamour and beauty of Hollywood’s golden age - from the time-worn faces of the master artisan to teenage apprentices shining with enthusiasm.
The process of creating the photographs was complex, involving the use of a large format camera and elaborate lighting rigs. Walter’s meticulously choreographed images were then processed by Rita to produce photographic prints of extraordinary quality – it is these prints which form the core of the exhibition.
A substantial number of their photographs of Norwich have been housed in The Museum of Norwich at the Bridewell and Norfolk Record Office, where they have been safely stored since the industries that Nurnberg photographed ceased to operate in the city.
This exhibition is a wonderful opportunity to rediscover these important photographs of Norwich’s past and to celebrate Walter and Rita’s artistic partnership.
Norwich Works: The Industrial Photography of Walter & Rita Nurnberg
Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery
Saturday 21 October 2023-Sunday 14 April 2024
To book tickets in advance and information on opening times and admission prices visit: www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/norwich-castle/whats-on/exhibitions/norwich-works-the-industrial-photography-of-walter-and-rita-nurnberg
A programme of related talks and events will be announced nearer the time.
A fully-illustrated exhibition catalogue will accompany the exhibition.
Images: top: Walter & Rita Nurnberg, Stitching shoe linings, Edwards & Holmes, Esdelle Works, Norwich, Gelatin silver print, 1948. ⓒ Norfolk Museums Service(Museum of Norwich). Lower: Walter & Rita Nurnberg, Check weighing and closing cartons, Mackintosh Caley
Chapelfield Works, Norwich, Gelatin silver print, 1958. ⓒ Norfolk Record Office
Comments
What an informative and beautifully written summary! Thank you Michael.