WHAT? Summer- Seventies-Saint-Tropez

WHERE? Hamiltons Gallery, 13 Carlos Place, London W1K 2EU

WHEN? Now until 4th October. Free to view 

WHY GO? To feel the heat!  Calling all Francophiles. Hang onto those lazy days of summer with images that evoke everything that is seductive about the South of France.

Celebrated champion of photography, historian and auctioneer Philippe Garner exhibits images that rekindle the lure, charm and sexiness of St Tropez throughout the Seventies in this, his first solo show, which documents his private passion for taking photographs. 

Captured on Kodachrome film, which creates a rich saturation of colour, they visually portray that vibrant hedonistic era. 

Garner was only 23 when he shot many of the images, enthusiastically snapping sun-tanned bathers and the beaches and towns he loved around Aix-en-Provence, Marseille and Saint-Tropez where anyone who was anyone holidayed back then.

He shot to fame as an auctioneer specialising in photography, having worked for both Sotheby’s and Christie’s, but ironically this heady little show turns the lens inwards to focus on him and his work. 

IN THE KNOW 

A landmark gallery for photography, Hamiltons in the heart of Mayfair, has exhibited many of the world’s most famous photographers since it opened in 1977. 

Fashionable names like Helmut Newton and Irving Penn have been shown along with the gritty photojournalistic work of renowned names like Don McCullin cementing the gallery’s position as a leading global authority, and first stop for serious collectors.