C. R. Hughes was a ‘gentleman’ photographer of the 1930s.

Like his contemporary, the  French photographer Henri Lartigue, his work expresses industry, wealth and society with great warmth and intimacy.

 Birmingham factory owner and member of the Royal Photographic Society. In the early 1930s he became interested in photography. His preferred camera was a Zeiss Contax 3A, and whilst amateur, his work became highly regarded and won numerous awards and prizes.

His subject matter ranges from the whimsical to the industrial and from intimate portraits of family to that of well-known names of the day including entertainer Josephine Baker, ‘The Black Pearl of Paris’ and the racing driver Malcolm Campbell. The photographs of Josephine Baker are particularly rare as cameras where forbidden in the Folies Bergère and Charles took these surreptitiously using his favored Zeiss camera.

For many years his archive was ‘lost’ but was recently rediscovered by his grandson, Richard Hughes. Over 200 glass plate negatives have survived in almost perfect condition.

This exhibition comprises of reprints of some of C.R. Hughes’s exhibited work and is curated by Penny Fielding of Penny Fielding Gallery and Interiors.

7th February- 31st March

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.