London Street Markets 1960s-1970s Dorothy Bohm

Dorothy Bohm was born Dorothea Israelit in Königsberg, East Prussia to a Jewish family, moving to Memel in 1932.

AJR Refugee Voices notes, that Dorothy’s father was a well-known industrialist who made the decision to remain in Memel rather than relocate his factory to the UK. The family moved east as life became more difficult and settled in Lithuania. Dorothy was able to obtain a visa to study in England and arrived in England in June 1939. She spent a year in a school in the Sussex countryside and then studied photography in Manchester, where she met her husband, Louis Bohm, who was originally from Lodz.

Dorothy’s career as a photographer flourished and post was she travelled with her husband, developed her own style – early street photography and experimented with colour. Later she set up the ‘Photographer’s Gallery’. Many books were published with her photos and her works were exhibited at the V&A Museum and other places.

Meanwhile, her family were trapped in the Soviet Union. Her father was forced to relocate to Siberia where he was treated with suspicion by the authorities as a ‘capitalist’, eventually during Kruschev’s ‘defrost’ in 1960 she was able to meet her parents and sister in Riga. In 1963, with the help of Prime Minister Wilson, her parents were allowed to join her in the UK.

She was a featured artist for the Insider Outsider Festival and in an exhibition at the Four Corners Gallery in 2020

Cafe Royal Books

Café Royal Books publishes limited edition Photobooks coveted by fans and collected by major institutions. The Zines focus on British documentary photography. Café Royal is run and founded by Craig Atkinson.

Craig explains ‘My aim is to create a focussed and complete archive of British documentary photography. I publish roughly 70 titles each year with a small edition ‘archive box’ every 100th title. These archive boxes are aimed at major collections, libraries and museums — helping to increase the visibility of the work and making the books publicly accessible for as long as possible. Collectors are wide and varied but include, MoMA NY, Harvard University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, The British Library, The Hyman Collection, Martin Parr Foundation, TATE, V&A / National Art Library’.

GREYSCAPE IS COMMITED TO SUPPORTING BRITISH DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY

14cm x 20cm
b/w digital

with text by Monica Bohm-Duchen