{{Short description|British photographer (1932–2014)}} {{for|the missionary and Prime Minister of Tonga|Shirley Waldemar Baker}} {{for|the American architect|Shirley Baker (architect)}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}}
'''Shirley Baker''' (9 July 1932 – 21 September 2014) was a British photographer, best known for her street photography and street portraits in working class areas of Greater Manchester.<ref name="telegraph-obituary">{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11151938/Shirley-Baker-obituary.html | title=Shirley Baker – obituary | work=The Telegraph | date=11 October 2014 | accessdate=17 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="farquhar-independent">{{cite news | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/shirley-baker-street-photographer-whose-work-chronicled-the-hardships-of-northern-workingclass-life-in-the-postwar-decades-9816985.html | date = 24 October 2014 | accessdate = 28 April 2015 | first = Simon | last = Farquhar | newspaper = The Independent | location = London | title = Shirley Baker: Street photographer whose work chronicled the hardships of Northern working-class life in the postwar decades}}</ref><ref name="coomes-bbc">{{cite news | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-29410300 | date = 1 October 2014 | accessdate = 1 May 2015 | first = Phil | last = Coomes | work = BBC News | title = Remembering the work of Shirley Baker}}</ref> She worked as a freelance writer and photographer on various magazines, books and newspapers, and as a lecturer on photography.<ref name="photographers-gallery">{{cite web | url = http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/3180/Shirley-Baker/709 | accessdate = 30 April 2015 | publisher = The Photographers' Gallery | title = Shirley Baker | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20150505040556/http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/3180/Shirley-Baker/709 | archivedate = 5 May 2015 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> Most of her photography was made for her personal interest but she undertook occasional commissions.<ref name="telegraph-obituary" />
During her lifetime Baker's photographs were published in two books and exhibited at The Photographers' Gallery, The Lowry and Salford Museum and Art Gallery.
==Life and work== Born in Kersal,<ref name="street-photographs-bloodaxe">{{cite book | last= Baker | first= Shirley | authorlink= Shirley Baker | title= Street Photographs: Manchester and Salford | year= 1989 | publisher= Bloodaxe | location= Newcastle upon Tyne | isbn= 978-1852240585 | page=128}}</ref> in north Salford, Lancashire, Baker was one of identical twins. They moved to Manchester when she was two,<ref name="street-photographs-bloodaxe" /> and her sister later boarded at Penrhos Girls' School in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, from where they were evacuated during the Second World War to Chatsworth House, in Derbyshire.<ref name="guardianobit">{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/08/shirley-baker | title=Shirley Baker obituary | work=The Guardian | date=8 October 2014 | accessdate=17 October 2014 | author=Phillips, Sarah}}</ref> Baker went on to study photography at Manchester College of Technology, and took other courses at Regent Street Polytechnic in London and the London College of Printing.<ref name="telegraph-obituary" /> Later in life she gained an MA in critical history and the theory of photography at the University of Derby in 1995.<ref name="guardianobit"/>
Baker started working as an industrial photographer for fabric manufacturers Courtaulds before working as freelance, as a photographer for other businesses<ref name="guardianobit" /> and as a writer and photographer on various magazines, books and newspapers,<ref name="photographers-gallery" /> including ''The Guardian''.<ref name="guardianobit" />
In 1960 she began work as a lecturer at the Salford College of Art. Whilst there, for the next fifteen years, she made candid, unposed, spontaneous photographs of people living in the area in Salford and Manchester during a time of massive slum clearance.<ref name="guardianobit"/><ref name="coomes-bbc" /><ref name="phillips-guardian">{{cite news | url = https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/feb/01/photographer-shirley-baker-best-shot | date = 1 February 2012 | accessdate = 30 April 2015 | first = Sarah | last = Phillips | newspaper = The Guardian | location = London | title = Photographer Shirley Baker's best shot}}</ref> She has said she was influenced by the work of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank and Garry Winogrand.<ref name="guardianobit" /><ref name="phillips-guardian" /> She also worked as a lecturer at Manchester Polytechnic.<ref name="photographers-gallery" /> She also joined the Royal Photographic Society in 1960 remaining a member for several years.<ref>Royal Photographic Society membership records. Accessed 22 January 2022</ref>
Baker had two books of her photographs published during her lifetime. ''Street Photographs: Manchester and Salford'' (1989) contains her photographs of people in Salford and Manchester in the 1960s and early 1970s. In the late 1990s she was commissioned by The Lowry to revisit the same places. The Lowry held an exhibition of her work and published a book, ''Streets and Spaces: Urban Photography – Salford and Manchester – 1960s–2000'' (2000), with her older photographs juxtaposed against her new photographs, showing people in different periods, in a radically altered urban landscape, yet involved in similar activities.<ref name="guardianobit"/>
In the 1980s, when Baker's doctor husband's work took them to London for a time, she photographed punks in and around Camden Lock and Camden Market.<ref name="telegraph-obituary" /><ref name="farquhar-independent" /><ref name="guardianobit"/> She also photographed in Japan, New York and the French Riviera.<ref name="men">{{cite news | url = http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/photographer-shirley-bakers-unusual-slant-2509517 | date = 4 April 2013 | accessdate = 2 May 2015 | newspaper = Manchester Evening News | location = Manchester | title = Photographer Shirley Baker's unusual slant on everyday life}}</ref> In 1987 she undertook a project on the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital supported by Viewpoint Gallery, Salford. In July and August 1987 she completed a commission to photograph at Manchester Airport for the Documentary Photography Archive (DPA). Baker's work at the airport was featured in a Granada Television programme on the work of the DPA and broadcast as part of its "Celebration" series on 23 October 1987.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/414bbc8b-d8da-4008-b23c-06ab82004e46 | accessdate = 24 May 2015 | publisher = The National Archives| title = Documentary Photography Archive; Manchester International Airport : A typical day. A one-day photographic commission by Shirley Baker.}}</ref>
==Legacy== ''Shirley Baker: Life Through a Lens'', a feature-length documentary, had its premiere on 18 May 2023, at the Centre for British Photography in London. It was then shown at Manchester Art Gallery on 23 May 2023. The film, written by John West and directed and edited by Jason Figgis, is narrated by the actor Samantha Beckinsale.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Harris |first=Geoff |date=2023-04-27 |title=New film celebrates pioneering street photographer, Shirley Baker |url=https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/photo-news/new-film-celebrates-pioneering-street-photographer-shirley-baker/ |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=Amateur Photographer |language=en}}</ref>
==Publications== *''Street Photographs: Manchester and Salford.'' Newcastle upon Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1989. {{ISBN|978-1852240585}}. With essays by Stephen Constantine, "Street Scenes: Late Afternoon", and by Baker, "Street Photographs". *''Streets and Spaces: Urban Photography – Salford and Manchester – 1960s–2000.'' Salford: The Lowry, 2000. {{ISBN|978-1902970127}}. Edited by Michael Leitch and with an essay by Baker. Published to accompany an exhibition at The Lowry. *''Women and Children; and Loitering Men.'' London: The Photographers' Gallery, 2015. {{ISBN|9780957618848}}. Published to accompany the exhibition ''Women, Children and Loitering Men'' at The Photographers' Gallery, London, 17 July – 20 September 2015.<ref>{{cite book | publisher = WorldCat| title = Shirley Baker : women, children : and loitering men| oclc = 918885360 }}</ref> Edited by Anna Douglas. With a preface by Brett Rogers, a foreword by Grislelda Pollock, an essay by Anna Douglas and a short story by Jackie Kay. *''Shirley Baker.'' London: Mack, 2019. Edited by Lou Stoppard. {{ISBN|978-1-912339-51-8}}.
===Zines=== *''Punks 1980s.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2018; 2020. *''British Seaside 1960–1970.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2018; 2020. *''Manchester and Salford Children in the 1960s.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2018. *''Manchester and Salford on Holiday in the 1960s.'' Southport: Café Royal, 2018.
==Exhibitions==
===Solo exhibitions=== *1986: ''My Face or Yours,'' touring exhibition.<ref name="street-photographs-bloodaxe" /> *2000/2001: ''Salford Revisited,'' The Lowry, Salford, Greater Manchester, August 2000 – January 2001.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/archive/2000/12/04/6055030.print/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20231110012953/https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/archive/2000/12/04/6055030.print/ | url-status = dead | archive-date = 10 November 2023 | date = 4 December 2000 | accessdate = 2 May 2015 | newspaper = The Bolton News | location = Bolton | title = Galleries and Exhibitions }}</ref> *2006/2007: The Photographers' Gallery, London, February 2006 – December 2007.<ref name="photographers-gallery" /> *2011/2012: Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Salford, Greater Manchester, November 2011 – March 2012. A retrospective.<ref name="phillips-guardian" /> *2013: ''Looking Outwards,'' Gallery Oldham, Oldham.<ref name="men" /> *2015: ''Women, Children and Loitering Men,'' The Photographers' Gallery, London, July–September 2015.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/shirley-baker-2 | date = 19 May 2015 | accessdate = 20 July 2015 | publisher = The Photographers' Gallery | title = Shirley Baker Women, Children and Loitering Men 17 Jul – 20 Sept 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/arts-culture-news/new-shirley-baker-photography-exhibition-9691222|title=New Shirley Baker photography exhibition in London puts inner city Manchester from '60s to '80s on show|last=Rucki|first=Alexandra|date=20 July 2015|newspaper=Manchester Evening News|accessdate=20 July 2015|location=London}}</ref>
===Exhibitions with others=== *1963: ''Nine Photographers,'' Manchester Building and Design Centre, Manchester, November–December 1963.<ref>{{cite news |last= Tucker | first= Anthony |year = 1963 | title= Nine Photographers Exhibition at Manchester | newspaper= The Guardian |location= Manchester}}</ref><!-- date= November or December 1963 --> *1986: ''Here Yesterday, and Gone Today'' exhibited at Salford Art Gallery as part of the ''Images of Salford'' exhibition.<ref name="street-photographs-bloodaxe" /> *1989: ''North West Frontiers,'' July–August 1989, Cornerhouse, Manchester.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://homemcr.org/exhibition/north-west-frontiers/ | accessdate = 2 May 2015 | publisher = Cornerhouse | title = North West Frontiers}}</ref> *2012: ''A Lowry Summer,'' The Lowry, Salford, Greater Manchester, July–October 2012. Exhibition of work by L. S. Lowry accompanied by work from other artists who depicted leisure time, Baker and Humphrey Spender.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.thelowry.com/news/2012/07/03/the-lowry-celebrates-125th-anniversary-of-ls-lowry-s-birth | date = 3 July 2012 | accessdate = 2 May 2015 | publisher = The Lowry | title = The Lowry celebrates 125th anniversary of LS Lowry's birth | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095238/http://www.thelowry.com/news/2012/07/03/the-lowry-celebrates-125th-anniversary-of-ls-lowry-s-birth | archivedate = 4 March 2016 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> *2012: ''Observers: British Photography and the British Scene,'' Serviço Social da Indústria (SESI), São Paulo.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://transform.britishcouncil.org.br/en/content/observers-british-photography-and-british-scene | accessdate = 2 May 2015 | publisher = British Council | title = Feature: São Paulo Visual Arts Month: Observers: British Photography and the British Scene | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140729174037/http://transform.britishcouncil.org.br/en/content/observers-british-photography-and-british-scene | archivedate = 29 July 2014 | df = dmy-all }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *'[https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/oct/08/laughter-in-the-slums-the-best-work-of-street-photographer-shirley-baker-in-pictures Laughter in the slums: the best work of street photographer Shirley Baker – in pictures]'
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Shirley}} Category:1932 births Category:2014 deaths Category:People from the City of Salford Category:Photographers from Lancashire Category:British street photographers Category:English women photographers Category:Alumni of the Regent Street Polytechnic Category:Alumni of the University of Derby Category:People from Salford Category:Alumni of the London College of Printing