John Deakin

John Deakin (8 May 1912 – 25 May 1972) was an English photographer, best known for his work centered around members of Francis Bacon's Soho inner circle - see The Colony Room. 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. Bacon based a number of famous paintings on photographs he commissioned by Deakin, including Henrietta Moraes on a Bed.

A chronic alcoholic, Deakin died in obscurity and poverty, but since the 1980s his reputation has grown through monographs, exhibitions and catalogues.