Harry Diamond

Peter Fetterman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

“He took up photography like someone finds Jesus.” - Lucian Freud on Harry Diamond

“Harry Diamond was a cockney, part-time East End street photographer and a real individual who became part of Soho’s London bohemian circle though never got a fraction of the recognition of all the artists he befriended and photographed. He passed away without any fanfare though the few remaining rare prints in
his archive were donated to the National Portrait Gallery in London where they reside now. His subjects included some of the great English artists of that era including Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon and probably the artist he had the best rapport with the charismatic Lucian Freud whose penetrating stare equaled Picasso’s. Harry captures the essence of Lucian’s complexity and unique personality in this portrait. As
Freud’s daughter Rose Boyt remembers, “Harry Diamond photographed us a few times when I was growing up. Every now and then he turned up at our house. I just had the idea that he might have been sent by my father, but that is rather unlikely. Harry was very intense, but somehow, he managed to put us all at ease…..Later on when I lived in Upper Clapton, Harry used to come around for a bath as he had no bathroom where he was living on Leman Street. He always left my bathroom a bit cleaner than he had found it and gave me photographs as a sort of hostess gift or in payment for the hot water.” Quoted in "Lucian Freud: A Life” Compiled by Mark Holborn in collaboration with David Dawson. Phaidon. Yes we English are for sure eccentric.” – Peter Fetterman