Title
Ainslie Ellis Archive
Reference
AEL
Production date
1970 - 1985
Creator
- Ellis, AinslieBiographyBiography
Ainslie Ellis was a British photography writer, active in the 1970s and 1980s. His work mainly appeared in the form of interviews and review articles in the British Journal of Photography. He was born on 16th February 1920. His career as a photography writer included an introduction to Tony Ray-Jones' post-humous book A Day Off (1974). He contributed to the British Journal of Photography for over 20 years, and acted as art editor between 1965 and 1968. Ellis died on 20th December 1997.
Scope and Content
This small collection relates to the writing career of photography writer Ainslie Ellis. The collection includes an obituary and correspondence relating to Tony Ray-Jones (collated around the time of his death in 1972), as well as several portrait photographs of Tony Ray-Jones. There are several small manuscripts for book chapters and articles about other prominent photographers including Weegee and Steichen. There is also a small amount of portrait photographs which are not captioned or signed.
Extent
One clamshell box
Physical description
The condition of this archive is good.
Language
English
Archival history
This archive was acquired by the National Science and Media Museum in 2002.
Level of description
TOP
Repository name
National Science and Media Museum, Bradford
Associated people and organisations
- British Journal of Photography
- Ray-Jones, Holroyd AnthonyBiographyBiography
Tony Ray-Jones was a British photographer. Born Holroyd Anthony Ray-Jones in Wells, Somerset, Ray-Jones was the youngest son of Raymond Ray-Jones (1886–1942), a painter and etcher who died when Tony was only eight months old, and Effie Irene Pearce, who would work as a physiotherapist. After his father's death, Tony's mother took the family to Tonbridge in Kent, to Little Baddow (near Chelmsford, Essex), and then to Hampstead in London. He was educated at Christ's Hospital (Horsham).
Tony Ray-Jones studied at the London School of Printing, where he concentrated on graphic design. In the early 1960s he obtained a scholarship that enabled him to join Yale University School of Art. In 1963 he was given assignments for the magazines Car and Driver and Saturday Evening Post.
Eager to use photography for more creative purposes, Ray-Jones went to the Design Lab held by the art director Alexey Brodovitch in the Manhattan studio of Richard Avedon. Ray-Jones also got to know a number of New York "street photographers", such as Joel Meyerowitz, a fellow Brodovich student at the time. Ray-Jones graduated from Yale in 1964 and photographed the United States until his departure for Britain in late 1965. From then until 1970, he lived and worked at 102 Gloucester Place, Marylebone.
On his arrival in Britain, he was shocked at the lack of interest in non-commercial photography, let alone in publication of books presenting it. He was also unsure of what subject he might pursue, but the idea of a survey of the English at leisure gradually took shape, and he was able to work on this and at the same time portrait and other work for the Radio Times, Sunday newspapers and magazines.
He returned to the United States in January 1971 to work as a teacher at the San Francisco Art Institute. He was soon able to busy himself working on assignments for both the British and the US press.
Ray-Jones's non-assignment photographs were first published in the October 1968 issue of Creative Camera.
In late 1971, Ray-Jones started to suffer from exhaustion. Early the next year leukaemia was diagnosed, and he started chemotherapy. Medical treatment in the US was too expensive, so Ray-Jones flew to London on 10 March and immediately entered the Royal Marsden Hospital; he died there on 13 March.
Subject
Conditions governing access
Access is given in accordance with the NSMM access policy. Material from this collection is available to researchers through the museum’s Insight facility.
Conditions governing Reproduction
Copies may be supplied of items in the collection, provided that the copying process used does not damage the item or is not detrimental to its preservation. Copies will be supplied in accordance with the NSMM’s terms and conditions for the supply and reproduction of copies, and the provisions of any relevant copyright legislation.
Related Archives
Tony Ray-Jones archiveTRJ
System of arrangement
This archive is currently undergoing processing, and a system of arrangement has yet to be established. This field will be updated at a later date.