British Council

An exhibition selected by the artist and Brett Rogers, the show comprised some 50 photographs on loan from the artist and the Zelda Cheatle Gallery, supplemented by works from the British Council collection. Blakemore's reputation as a print-maker and teacher (he was co-founder of the photography department at Derby College of Art) has established him as one of the most influential and substantial photographers of his generation. This touring exhibition traced his career from the classic early land- and seascape studies, which he produced during the 1970s, through to his still lifes, and thistle series which he started in the 1980s. It concluded with his myriad studies of tulips and a series of photographs based on his garden on Derbyshire. Informing all his work was a constant interest in death and decay, the cycle of nature and the history of western visual culture, as well as an all consuming concern with the crafts of fine photographic printing. The accompanying catalogue, in Portuguese and Spanish, contained an essay by Val Williams (reprinted from Inscape John Blakemore, published by Zelda Cheatle Press Ltd, 1991) with a biographical note (no ISBN). The exhibition originated in 19932 and continued touring until 2000