Tony Ray-Jones Archive

Acquisition of Tony Ray-Jones Archive, a pivotal figure in 20th century photography. Born in 1941, the son of a painter and print-maker, Ray-Jones studied design at the London School of Printing before going on to Yale University School of Art. He then moved to New York to work under Richard Avedon and the art director and photographer Alexei Bridovich. he died of leukaemia in 1972. Ray-Jones work was first shown at the ICA in 1969, when photography was largely unrecognised in Britain as a medium of expression. Five years later, his best-known memorial 'A Day Off, An English Journal' was published, upon which he became a hero to a generation of British photographers who saw him as a seminal figure.