{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O89712"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O89712/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BB5822/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BB5822/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BB5822","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O89712","accessionNumber":"E.73-2003","objectType":"Photograph","titles":[{"title":"Aparteid sign: European only dry cleaners","type":"generic title"},{"title":"House of Bondage","type":"series title"}],"summaryDescription":"Ernest Cole is best known for his radical, visceral, and unflinching images of black life in his native country of South Africa, and his adopted home of the United States. Documenting the realities of Apartheid (the racial segregation of black and white citizens), Cole was initially inspired by the American Civil Rights Movement, and from the 1950’s went to work documenting the racial oppression evident across the nation. \n\r\nLimited by travel restrictions unfairly enforced upon black citizens, Cole had his legal records reclassified as ‘Coloured’ (Mixed Raced). This new ethnic classification allowed for freer movement and eventually catalysed the photojournalist to apply for a passport. While under pressure from police authorities, he undertook a self-imposed ‘exile’, travelling first to the UK before landing in the United States. There, he continued his documentation of black life. \n\r\nHis book <i>House of Bondage</i>, published in the United States in 1967, and banned in South Africa, gave an unblinking look into the daily violence of segregated oppression. The photographer described the book as   the ‘extraordinary experience to live as though life were a punishment for being black’.\n\r\n","physicalDescription":"Black and white photograph (gelatin-silver print) showing  an aparteid sign for a European only dry cleaners in South Africa, from the 'House of Bondage' series.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Cole, Ernest","id":"A11537"},"association":{"text":"photographer","id":"AAT25687"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Gelatine-silver print","categories":[{"text":"Photographs","id":"THES48910"},{"text":"Africa","id":"THES49019"},{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006BB5822"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLH","id":"THES49654"},"free":"","case":"DELTA","shelf":"5","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"photograph","id":"AAT46300"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"South Africa","id":"x30058"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1966-1967","earliest":"1966-01-01","latest":"1967-12-31"},"association":{"text":"photographed","id":"x30151"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by John and Judith Hillelson","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"24.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"19.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Black and white photograph showing  an aparteid sign for a European only dry cleaners in South Africa, from the 'House of Bondage' series by Ernest Cole, 1966-67","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"<b>Photography Centre, 2018-20:</b>\r\n\r\nCollection in Focus: John and Judith Hillelson\r\n1930s–1970s\r\n\r\nThe Hillelson collection includes some of the most significant works of photojournalism from  the 20th century. John Hillelson (1923–2012) founded the John Hillelson Agency in London’s  Fleet Street in 1958. He was also the London agent for Magnum Photos, a cooperative that  brings together photojournalists from across the world. His wife Judith (1930–2010) ran the  agency's extensive picture library, from which this collection is drawn. \r\n\r\nThe agency collaborated with weekly magazine editors to publish photo-reportage, a genre that flourished in the 1930s with the invention of smaller, more portable cameras and new printing technology. The Hillelsons gained a reputation for presenting lesser-known work such as the pictures of apartheid, smuggled out of South Africa by Ernest Cole in 1966 and 1967. The Hillelson collection comprises key images from the agency’s library and reflects their position as leading advocates of human interest photography.\n\n22. Ernest Cole (1940–90)\r\nApartheid Sign: European-only dry cleaners\r\n1966\r\nGelatin silver print\r\nMuseum no. E.73-2003\n","date":{"text":"10/2018","earliest":"2018-10-01","latest":"2018-10-31"}}],"partNumbers":["E.73-2003"],"accessionNumberNum":"73","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2003,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-07-31","recordCreationDate":"2004-01-19","availableToBook":false}}