Curated by Julia Winkler & FOTOHOF Salzburg
Dorset Place Gallery
This exhibition is curated by Brighton Photography Research Group member Curated by Julia Winckler in conjunction with Fotohof Salzburg.
Commissioned by the Town and Country Planning Association, renowned photographer and cameraman Wolf Suschitzky (1912-2016) photographed nine New Towns of the first wave of post-war New Town development within a decade of their initial construction. A small selection of these was shown at London’s Royal Academy in 1959 as part of the ‘Britain’s New Towns: Ten Years on’ exhibition. The bulk of the negatives were never printed, publicly displayed or published.
During a research residency in 2022 at FOTOHOF Salzburg in Austria, where the Suschitzky archive is now held, Julia Winckler rediscovered the New Town photos and immediately recognised their significance. Through a sympathetic lens, and reflecting his belief in and optimism for a better post-war future, Suschitzky had captured an extraordinary record of the phenomenal achievements of post-war reconstruction and aspiration to build a better society. Highlighting the innovative architectural forms, shopping arcades, houses, schools, nurseries, alongside business and industrial contexts, they also show the inhabitants engaged in their day-to-day activities and the green spaces that were a feature of the New Town ideals.
Displaying a selection of these images, some of which that were exhibited for the first time during a recent exhibition at Crawley Museum (funded by an IAA Ignite/AHRC grant, and co-curated by Julia Winckler, Georgia Wrighton University of Brighton), Fotohof Salzburg and Crawley Museum, along with a portfolio produced from Suschitzky’s wonderfully evocative contact books, this new exhibition at Dorset Place Gallery provides a remarkable opportunity for students and staff from a range of disciplines to engage with his images, which not only contain huge historical significance but also reflect contemporary resonances and topical concerns over the current housing provision crisis and ongoing political and societal discourse on how this can be resolved.
Exhibition dates: Dorset Place Gallery Tuesday 28th October – Saturday 1 November 2025
Opening times: Tuesday 28 October, Wednesday 29 October, Thursday 30 October, Friday 31 October between 12:00-17:00; Saturday 1 November: between 11:00-16:30
Image – Wolf Suschitzky, Corby, 1959, Contact Sheet image, courtesy of Fotohof Salzburg & Suchitzky/Donat Estate
