Man on the Bridge

Arthur Fields

One city, one street, fifty years – thousands of photographs… 

‘Man on the Bridge’ is a remarkable national photo collection project that gathers the photos of Arthur Fields and other street photographers who snapped passers-by on Dublin’s O’Connell Bridge from the 1930s right through to 1988.

Arthur Fields took hundreds of thousands of photographs throughout his long career but no negatives survive. The images on display have all been contributed by the public from their personal albums in a massive crowd-sourcing project instigated by independent film-makers, Ciarán Deeney and David Clarke of El Zorrero Films. People have contributed 3,428 images so far, and we are delighted to display every one of them in this major installation, the biggest ever mounted in the Gallery of Photography.

Although celebrating one Dublin street photographer, the exhibition is also a testament to Arthur’s wife Doreen and all the other street photographers who worked on O’Connell Street, including Con Keane, Danny Delahunty, Harry Cowan, Max Coleman, John Quinn and many others. Undoubtedly, some of their photos are included here.

Santa on the Bridge over the years

Together the photographs create an alternative archive of Dublin city, one that reveals how we lived, and how the city and its people changed over the course of half a century. It gives visitors the heady and fun experience of seeing, in one sweep, images spanning 50 years of Dublin street life and style. Who knows, you might even find yourself! 

Alongside the central installation are selected images captioned by the families themselves. These often poignant stories reveal the special place that photographs hold in people’s lives, and bring home the emotional power of vernacular photography. The exhibition also included video interviews with photo historians and an interactive database installation where visitors could access any of the images and their captions and view them as large projections.

A selection of images and stories from the archive had been compiled into a handsome book. Published by Collins Press, Man on the Bridge

 A documentary telling the story of Arthur and the photos he took was premiered on RTE Television in the Christmas of 2014. The documentary is made by Ciarán Deeney and David Clarke of El Zorrero Films, the creative force behind the Man on Bridge project.

For further information, visit www.manonbridge.ie

Santa on the Bridge over the years

About Arthur Fields:

Born in Dublin in 1901 to Jewish-Ukrainian emigrants, Arthur Fields began life as Abraham Feldman. His parents had fled religious persecution in Kiev and Arthur, along with his siblings, changed his name to integrate better into Irish society at the time. He began his working life as a tailor, and it was not until the 1930s that he tried his hand as a street photographer. He was not alone. Behind the scenes was Arthur’s wife, Doreen, who played a vital role in the business. Arthur might have taken them but it was Doreen who developed the photographs under the stairs at home. She also looked after the administration, ensuring that people received their photos, which was no mean feat. 

For Arthur, taking photographs was not about flair, prestige or, indeed, art. Nor did he realise the unique photographic record of social life that he was creating. For Arthur, it was a job and by all accounts it was a job he was obsessed with. Arthur worked day and night in all weather conditions, 365 days a year for over fifty years. This work ethic is at the heart of why Arthur became a Dublin legend. Known as ‘The Man on the Bridge’, it was commonly said that it was the statue of Daniel O’Connell that guarded O’Connell Street but it was Arthur Fields who guarded the bridge!

The installation process of ‘Man on the Bridge’

By the end of Arthur Fields’ career in the late 1980s, Dublin and, indeed, the world, had completely changed. Arthur had adapted during the time also and had made the move to Polaroid technology, providing instant colour photographs. By this stage, however, he was the last working street photographer in the city, a relic of a different time in the story of Dublin. When Arthur retired in the late 1980s, it was not due to lack of desire on his part but ultimately for health reasons. He passed away in April 1994.

Exhibition dates

29 November 2014 – 8 January 2015

Gallery information

Opening hours

Open 6 days:

Tuesday - Saturday, 11am - 5pm

Open Mondays by appointment for ongoing education, artists archiving and training.

Closed Sundays

Closed for bank holidays and public holidays

Admission is free 

Find us

Gallery of Photography Ireland

Meeting House Square,

Temple Bar,

Dublin D02 X406, Ireland