"Want" presents 100 postcards of beggars belonging to the legendary art dealer John Kasmin. A pivotal figure in postwar British culture whose gallery showed the likes of Frank Stella and David Hockney, Kasmin has built a collection of predominantly nineteenth-century postcards to rival the impressive holdings of such collectors as Anthony dOffay and Tom Phillips. Beggars are one of the most evocative of the many subjects that feature in Kasmin's eclectic collection, and the selection of photographic postcards in this book reflects the arresting imagery and engaging although often disturbing social narratives that first attracted him to the mendicant motif. In a series of short commentaries Kasmin articulates that attraction, going behind each of the postcards to establish their origins and describe their appeal.
