International and Contemporary  |  Modern British/Post War  |  Photography | Archive  | Index

Anne Bean is a London-based artist who is an active and influential figure in UK live art and performance. Born in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1950, she moved to England in 1969 after an initial art education at the University of Cape Town. She attended Reading University (graduated 1973), and her wide-ranging practice encompasses slide projections, drawing, photography, video and sound, with materials such as fire and pyrotechnics to weather balloons, wind and steam. Since 1970, she has presented solo and collaborative projects throughout Europe, USA, Africa, Mexico and Japan. In 2008, Bean was awarded the Legacy: Thinker in Residence award by Tate Research and the Live Art Development Agency. England & Co have exhibited her images relating to performance works from the 1970s at Photo London and Paris Photo. In June 2019, the gallery held a solo exhibition: Anne Bean: How Things Used to Be Now.

• Read the interview with Anne Bean in Fräulein magazine.

• Watch the Elles x Paris Photo interview with Anne Bean on YouTube.

To mark the aquisition of Heat (1977) by Tate, England & Co's presentation at Photo London 2024 features a substantial group of works by Anne Bean: vintage prints and more recent photographic editions published in association with England & Co.

Shouting Mortality as I Drown 1977/2021

Archival print

Heat 1977

Construction with nine distressed and altered silver gelatin prints.
Acquired by Tate, London.

Dust 1978
7 x 13.2 inches (17.5 x 33 cm)
Collage of two silver-gelatin prints with paint dust.

Divided Self 1974-1982
25.79 x 36.22 inches (65.5 x 92 cm)
Collage of cut-up black and white photographic prints

Tourist (The Camera makes Everyone a Tourist) c 1985
22.5 x 25 inches
Collage with vintage colour photographs
Words: Susan Sontag

Drowned 1978-1980
12.25 x 10 inches
Unique worked colour photographic print

Elementals: Earth, Air, Fire, Water c 1978
18 x 23.25 inches
Right side of diptych.
Collage with colour vintage photographs.

Elementals: Earth, Air, Fire, Water c 1978
18 x 23.25 inches
Left side of diptych.
Collage with black and white vintage photographs.

Elemental (Heat) 1974
10.83 x 7.09 inches (27.5 x 18 cm)
Silver gelatin print
One from a set of five performance photographs

Heat (Performed for camera 1977) 1974-1983
16 x 20 inches
Mixed media with glass and burnt vintage colour photographs
Anne Bean with photographer Chris Bishop
Sold – Private collection

Painting Myself Out c 1973
11.75 x 16.5 inches
Black and white vintage photograph with white paint