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Behind the Shop Facade – The Life of Maurice Dorfman is a whirlwind visual journey through nine decades of a remarkable man with a remarkable story – an unsung hero posthumously celebrated by award winning social-documentary photographer Jim Grover with an exhibition and accompanying book. For the past 18 months, Grover has immersed himself in extensively researching the vivid history of Maurice (or ‘Murray’) Dorfman, a man who to many was the amenable solitary owner of Jeannette Fashions, the longest surviving traditional shop on Clapham High Street, but whose vivid life left an incredible legacy as Grover’s exhibition and book pay testament to.

On 18 February 2020, Dorfman passed away at the age of 87. With no direct family to pass the business on to, 60 years of clothing manufacturing and haberdashery trading by the Dorfman family on the high street ceased. It was the end of an era but one that Grover, aided by some very old address books, family photographs, and press clippings combined with the extensive memories, stories and mementos of over 60 customers, friends and work colleagues over the decades, has been determined to celebrate and preserve – an extraordinary social history.

For Grover this has been a unique and unexpected experience delving into the life of someone he respected and admired but initially, like so many others, knew very little about, “For me, he is one of life’s unsung heroes who richly deserves the tribute that so many have helped me create in his honour. Whilst his shop facade and home will inevitably disappear in the wake of the never-ending development of Clapham High Street, Maurice Dorfman will now never be forgotten.”