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Martin Parr

Issue 4

Artist Collaboration

Martin Parr

Martin Parr
Martin Parr, Surrey, Epsom, England, UK (dithered detail), 1973. Digital image courtesy of Martin Parr / © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos (LON29514).

Introduction by

  • Picture of Martina Droth
    Martina DrothDeputy Director of Research, Exhibitions and Publications, and Curator of SculptureYale Center for British Art

This artist collaboration was developed in tandem with the conference Photography and Britishness, held at the Yale Center for British Art on 4–5 November 2016, at which Martin Parr was the keynote speaker. A central aim of the conference (the proceedings of which are presented in this issue) was to examine the two-way relationship between photography and Britishness—to ask how each acts upon, defines, and challenges the other. We used Parr’s photographs of British places and people as a reference point for this question: his work is often characterized as capturing an “essence” of Britishness, but it is as true to say that his images have come to define particular notions of what Britishness looks like. This interrelationship is threaded through the huge archive of photographs that Parr has created over his career, which presents the familiar and the strange, the customary and the incidental, age-old traditions and fleeting trends.

Parr describes himself as a documentary photographer, and during his talk he emphasized his commitment to this genre. As he put it, he sees it as his role and responsibility to photographically document the world. His talk presented a chronology spanning forty years, from his earliest black-and-white photographs made in the 1970s, to his forays into colour film in the 1980s, and through to the present day of digital photography. The selection of images presented here is extracted from that chronology and presents samplings of Parr’s work across the decades.

Black and white photograph. A man and a woman stand along a street, facing away from us. The man wears a black suit and coat has a briefcase in one hand and a newspaper tucked under the other arm. Light reflects off his dark hair. The woman wears a knee-length coat over bare legs and low heels. A sea of identical rooftops fills the view beyond.
Figure 1 Martin Parr, Surrey, Epsom, England, UK, 1973. Digital image courtesy of Martin Parr / © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos (LON29514).

Photographer

  • Picture of Martin Parr
    Martin ParrPhotographerMartin Parr Studio / Magnum Photographs

I was brought up in Surrey, which is one of the home counties, the area surrounding London, where many people commute into the City. These areas, by nature, are rather dull and suburban, and here on a misty winter day stands another commuter on his way to work. The blandness of this backdrop gave me the added advantage that when I went anywhere else in the UK, it became overwhelmingly interesting.

Black and white photograph. Couples dance on an open-air dance floor by the sea. Empty striped sling patio chairs are set up around the dance floor.
Figure 2 Martin Parr, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex, England, UK, 1978. Digital image courtesy of Martin Parr / © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos (LON28062).

Once a week at the spectacular De La Warr Pavilion (one of the best modernist buildings in the UK) in Bexhill-on-Sea the evening dance takes place, or at least it did in the 1970s, when I made a pilgrimage down from Yorkshire to photograph this event. For me, it was one of those wonderful moments, as the vestiges of our fading country and empire danced slowly into the sunset.

Colour photograph. A woman with hooded eyes under a poof of brown bangs looks at us, her downturned lips parted and her hand on her hip. She stands on our side of an ice cream counter, which is crowded with children on the other side.
Figure 3 Martin Parr, New Brighton, England, UK, from ‘The Last Resort’, 1983–85. Digital image courtesy of Martin Parr / © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos (LON6977).

Documenting the run-down seaside resort of New Brighton, near Liverpool, was my first venture into colour photography in the early 1980s. I was able to show the shabbiness of the resort mixed with the determination of families to come here and enjoy themselves. This was in the ice cream bar of the now demolished lido. Most of the time when a person is watching the camera and the photographer in a candid shot, it just does not work. But the magic of photography is that all rules are there to be broken and this is a case where the subject’s quizzical look helps to bring the photo alive.

Colour photograph. The heads and shoulders of five pale-skinned young men and women nearly fill this picture. The two women at the centre run their hands through their hair in the same gesture. Two other women have feathered hairstyles. A tent fills much of the background behind the group.
Figure 4 Martin Parr, Badminton Horse Trials, Badminton House, Gloucestershire, England, UK, from ‘The Cost of Living’, 1988. Digital image courtesy of Martin Parr / © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos (LON28930).

Badminton horse trials is an equestrian event held annually in the Cotswolds, a gorgeous rural area within easy driving distance of London. The event is always held on the first weekend of May and there are three days of horses navigating a difficult cross-country circuit. It attracts the young and wealthy from London, especially the horsey types. Back in the 80s when long hair was a done thing, a constant flick back of hair was one of the defining attributes of being a Sloane. This was the phrase that defined the young aspirational upper classes.

Colour photograph. Five men facing away from us and wearing all white peer into a dense thicket of bushes. Two kneel down and three bend over, heads in the foliage.
Figure 5 Martin Parr, Cricket Players Looking for Cricket Ball, Chew Stoke, England, UK, 1992. Digital image courtesy of Martin Parr / © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos (LON55595).

This is Chew Stoke cricket club searching for a lost ball. In 1992, I spent a year documenting this commuting village that is about seven miles from Bristol. Every aspect of village life was recorded and then mounted as an exhibition in the village hall at the end of the year. Cricket is a deliciously slow game and the pavilion, the teas, and the waiting, are an essential part of this strange and peculiar British game. Even loosing a ball is one of the rituals of a sleepy day watching a cricket match.

Colour photograph. The head and shoulders of a smiling, pale-skinned woman close to the camera are out of focus. The white frames of her sunglasses seem to glow. In sharper focus, a boardwalk crowded with people and a beach stretch into the distance beyond.
Figure 6 Martin Parr, Weymouth., England, UK, from ‘Think of England’, 2000. Digital image courtesy of Martin Parr / © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos (LON19547).

Weymouth in Dorset is one of the most beautiful seaside resorts in the UK. It has a brilliant beach and seems to attract the older crowd. Everything is reassuringly British. Sunglasses always look good in photographs, their stark shape and contrast standing out, and often giving images a strong lynchpin. Here I was experimenting with how people and objects can appear out of focus, but with a kiss of flash this is one of those rare moments when it all came together and worked.

Colour photograph. A single person swims in a jewel-toned blue pool as slate-grey clouds approach across the smoky-green water of a bay. Empty white lounge chairs line a blue fence on the far side of the pool.
Figure 7 Martin Parr, Gourock Lido, Scotland, UK, 2004. Digital image courtesy of Martin Parr / © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos (LON65518).

On an August bank holiday weekend in Scotland I came across this stunning outdoor lido in Gourock, a town situated on the Clyde about fifteen miles from Glasgow. The dark brooding sky contrasting perfectly with the bright blue of the water helped to amplify the rather surreal nature of this pool. After publication, the lone swimmer came forward and I was able to send him a print.

Colour photograph. Shown from the knees up, a woman wearing red regalia trimmed in black, gold, and fur faces our left in profile. Her black hat is lined with feathers, and the white-gloved hand we can see is in a loose fist at her side. She stands in what appears to be a white tent.
Figure 8 Martin Parr, Installation of New Lord Mayor, Fiona Woolf, Silent Ceremony, Guildhall, City of London, England, UK, 2013. Digital image courtesy of Martin Parr / © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos (LON156681).

This is Fiona Woolf about to be elected Lord Mayor of London at the Guildhall, bang in the heart of the City of London. This ceremony, which always takes place on the second Friday of November, is called the Silent Ceremony as the whole thing has no words uttered whatsoever. Like many traditions in the City, this has been going on for centuries, and the day after is always the Lord Mayor’s parade. London, despite being at the cutting edge of world finance and banking is also very feudal, as this tradition demonstrates very well."

About the author

  • Picture of Martin Parr
    Martin Parr has taken photographs around the globe, but the one subject he continually returns to is Britain. He is one of the best-known documentary photographers of his generation and has published over ninety books. He has curated two photography festivals, Arles in 2004 and Brighton Biennial in 2010. More recently Parr curated the Barbican exhibition, Strange and Familiar: Britain as Revealed by International Photographers. He has been a member of the Magnum agency since 1994 and is currently the president. In 2013, Parr was appointed the visiting professor of photography at the University of Ulster. His work has been collected by many of the major museums, including the Tate, the Pompidou, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Imprint

Author Martin Parr
Date 28 November 2016
Category Artist Collaboration
Review status Peer Reviewed (Editorial Group)
License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Downloads PDF format
Article DOI https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-04/parr
Cite as Parr, Martin. “Martin Parr.” In British Art Studies. London and New Haven: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and Yale University Press, 2016. https://master--britishartstudies-04.netlify.app/issues/04/martin-parr/.
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