John Deakin was an English photographer, best known for his work centered around members of Francis Bacon’s Soho inner circle. Deakin had wanted to be a painter, and doubting the validity and status of photography as an art form, he did not hold his photographic work in high esteem; many of his photographs have been lost, destroyed or damaged. A chronic alcoholic, Deakin died in obscurity and poverty, but since the 1980s his reputation has grown through monographs, exhibitions and catalogues.
John Deakin
