Cleopatra's Needle, Victoria Embankment

The Art Gallery of South Australia began collecting photography as art in 1922, and among the early acquisitions were three photographs by Adelaide-born Gwendolyn Morris, who took up photography after moving to England in 1927. Morris worked as a photographer for the BBC in central London and in her spare time created her own artistic photographs, inspired by the architecture and mood of her London surroundings.

At this time the BBC was located just off The Strand, near Waterloo Bridge, and Morris spent her lunchtimes wandering the nearby streets, taking in the Embankment, Covent Garden, The Strand and Trafalgar Square. She also photographed these sites in the evenings, a time when familiar scenes were transformed into images of atmospheric nocturnal beauty, as in this image of Cleopatra’s Needle. Here, the glow from the street lamps on a wet evening gently sculpts the bodies of the sphinxes and creates a glistening reflection on the footpath.

Julie Robinson, Senior Curator Prints, Drawings and Photographs