An exhibition of work by one of the ‘founding fathers’ of the documentary photography movement in Britain is being staged in Maldon.

The late Humphrey Spender, who worked in Maldon for 50 years, will have his work displayed at the Hayletts Gallery in the High Street from Saturday until May 4.

Spender was best known as a photojournalist, and then as a painter and textile designer, spearheading the famous Maldon Millennium Embroidery. He lived and worked at The Studio in Ulting, designed by architect Richard Rogers. He died at his home in 2005, aged 94.

Spender’s initial motivation was to use photography as a tool for revealing social deprivation and human behaviour and he became the photographer for the Mass Observation project in 1937. He also worked for the Picture Post magazine between 1937 and 1952, and as an official War Office photographer during the Second World War.

The exhibition will include painting, photos from those projects and some more personal work.

Spender’s paintings and original prints are more colourful as he explores nature and the world around him from the estuaries of the Blackwater to the textures and patterns found in flowers and landscapes.

Hayletts Gallery is open from 10am to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday.

For more information, visit haylettsgallery.com.