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Rolph Gobits (born 1947, The Hague, the Netherlands) grew up in Amsterdam and was based in the UK from 1967 until 2021, when he moved back to Holland. Gobits studied photography at the Arts Institute of Bournemouth, and completed his MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art, London in 1971. He has had a long and an extensive editorial and advertising career, becoming particularly known for his portrait images. His subjects have included artists Jenny Saville, Steve McQueen, Damian Hirst; and the writer, J.G. Ballard. Gobits has exhibited his work in Europe, Russia, USA, and the UK.

For more than five decades, Gobits has worked on his major personal project of portraits of travelling entertainers and vaudeville performers. He has travelled all over the UK to produce more than 150 photographs, many to be included in a forthcoming book of images from this project. He has photographed these performers in their modest homes or nearby environment, saying that he feels that he has been capturing a disappearing world, ‘a forgotten tribe’.

Gobits exhibited with England & Co in a group presentation to accompany the 2020 digital iteration of Photo London. In 2021, he will exhibit a group of vintage prints from The Entertainers series with England & Co’s at Photo London in Somerset House. He will also participate in the gallery’s presentation at Paris Photo later in the year.

Suma Lamonte c 1973
30 x 29 cm
Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10

Judy Moxon c 1973
29 x 30 cm
Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10

Beryl and Ruben Martin c 1973
30.5 x 30 cm
Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10

Yuri and Tanya c 1973
30.5 x 30 cm
Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10

Dancer c 1973
30.5 x 30 cm
Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10

Brian Dewhurst c 1970s
30 x 30 cm
Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10

Susanne Patrice c 1970s
29 x 30 cm
Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10

Ricky Newby c 1970s
30 x 30 cm
Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10

Michael Buckmaster c 1970s
29 x 30 cm
Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10

Margo Marlow c 1970s

Sepia toned silver gelatin print made by the artist c1990
Edition of 10