Ian Berry's renowned body of work "The English" is on display for the first time in 40 years at Lucy Bell Gallery in St Leonards on Sea, England, from 20 October 2015 - 9 January 2016.

<i>‘I set out to record what I saw professionally…but in spite of a journalistic purpose I am drawn to visual situations.’</i>

The project was originally supported by the first Arts Council Photography Bursary, and was later published as a book for which Berry photographed the English at work and at play between 1974-75. This new exhibition includes previously unseen and unpublished images from the project.

The exhibition ‘The English’ is an important body of work and is a sensitive and highly personal exploration of England and English life from the perspective of a Magnum documentary photographer who grew up in the North of England, but had spent a substantial part of his life abroad, particularly in South Africa.

Four decades later, this series of images forms a unique collection by a photographer who captured a time, now passed, and an era when there was far greater freedom to create photographs. At the time Berry noted: ‘England is the easiest country in the world in which to take photographs—in the way people react or rather do not react in the photographer’s presence.’ These images, explore the English at work and at play, they explore the eccentricities and humour of the English, while others portray, with an intimate delicacy, the fragility of what it is to be human.

The exhibition encompasses pictures from the original book 'The English', but unseen pictures edited at the time and new pictures shot between 1980 and today.

The images from the new set of 'The English' are available to view or license <a href='http://www.magnumphotos.com/Package/2K1HRG6TITIT' target='_blank'>by clicking here</a>.