Hardman Exhibition

Reviewed by Colin Serjent

The work of the famous Liverpool photographer Edward Chambre Hardman is on show at Liverpool’s Central Library.

In partnership with the National Trust, Liverpool City Council organised the exhibition ‘E. Chambre Hardman – Behind the Lens’ as part of a major project to preserve and make accessible his former house and studio based in Rodney Street, and his vast photographic archive, of which over 150,000 prints, negatives and glass plates survive from the 1920s.

Given his tremendous output of photographs, the exhibition can only give the viewer a small taste of his work.

Among the more acclaimed pictures taken by Hardman on display are the shots of a rainy street in Chester in 1952, the view of a snow covered Victoria Street from the steps of Liverpool Museum, and the extraordinary photograph of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal moored up in Cammell Lairds shipyard with rows of terraced rooftops in the foreground.

The exhibition will be complemented by a computer presentation in the library detailing the history of Rodney Street, and the story of his life and work.

The exhibition continues until May 31.