Dunfermline marks city status with new photography exhibition

One of the photos shows the queue outside a cinema

Post-war photographs of Dunfermline will feature in an exhibition to mark its newly-acquired city status.

The images were taken by Joseph McKenzie, dubbed "the father of modern Scottish photography", in the 1960s.

The exhibition, Dunfermline And Its People, will go on display at Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries next month.

Cultural charity OnFife said Mr McKenzie's photographs "really bring the city to life".

A ballet class in session in Dunfermline in the 1960s

Mr J. C MacIntyre, Pittencrieff Park Superintendent, with a dog named Rannoch

School crossing ladies, Mrs Innes and Mrs Wood

Joseph McKenzie trained as a photographer while in the RAF and became a prolific photographer through the 1960s, documenting Scotland at a time of momentous change.

After serving as a photographer in the RAF, he taught photography full-time at St Martin's School of Art in London and later at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee.

He was elected an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society in 1954 and died in 2015, aged 86.

Mr McKenzie's work is held in public and private collections including those of the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the McManus Art Gallery and Museum in Dundee.

A milkman on his rounds in the former Fife town

A young boy grins for the camera

A girl following the St Margaret's Day Pilgrimage at East End Park in June 1968

Alice Pearson, a curator with the cultural charity OnFife, which runs the exhibition venue, said: "Joseph McKenzie really brings the city to life in his photographs - its history, its location, its hustle and bustle, as well as the friendliness of its people.

"He gave us a remarkable portrait of a place in the midst of momentous change and provides glimpses of a world that has all but vanished.

"It is fitting that his legacy can be enjoyed by people once again as Dunfermline begins a new chapter in its illustrious story."

This image was taken at Dunfermline Bus Station in 1968

The former town became Scotland's eighth city in May after being granted the status as part of the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Last week King Charles and the Queen Consort visited Dunfermline on their first public engagement since the official period of royal mourning for the Queen ended.

Dunfermline And Its People runs from 19 November until 26 February 2023 at Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries.

Images courtesy of the artist's estate