Martin Parr

Biography
View works. Martin Parr, New Brighton, England, 1983-1985
New Brighton, England, 1983-1985
View works

Martin Parr was born in 1952 in Epsom, UK. As a child, his budding interest in photography was encouraged by his grandfather, himself an amateur photographer. He then studied photography at Manchester Polytechnic from 1970 to 1973. Since then, Martin Parr has worked on numerous photographic projects. He has left his mark on European visual culture, gradually establishing himself as a major international figure thank to his innovative imagery and oblique approach to social documentary.

In 1994, Parr became a full member of the photographic cooperative Magnum, which he chaired from 2013 to 2017. He is also interested in filmmaking and uses his photographs in a variety of mediums, including fashion and advertising. In 2002, the Barbican Art Gallery and the National Media Museum organized a major retrospective of Martin Parr’s work, which toured Europe for the next five years. In April 2017, Parr received the Sony World Photography Award for his outstanding contribution to photography. The Martin Parr Foundation opened in Bristol the same year.

In his series, Martin Parr questions the absurd banality of our daily lives, the vanity of contemporary consumer societies and the multiplication of flows and exchanges in a globalized world. His work is based on a recognizable visual style: with their bold composition and bright colors, lit with flash, his photographs are immediately identifiable. Today, Martin Parr’s images circulate throughout the world and show a desire to capture the world as it is, without filters, while mixing humor and social criticism through this typically English irony.

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2024 Fashion Faux Parr, Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, France

2023 Martin Parr, Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, France

2022-23 L’Irlande de Martin Parr, Centre culturel irlandais, Paris, France
2022-23 Réconciliation, Martin Parr and Henri Cartier-Bresson, Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France

2022 Déjà View, Martin Parr and Anonymous project, Galerie Magnum, Paris, France

2020 In Black & White : Martin Parr & Tony Ray-Jones, Clémentine de la Féronnière, Paris, France

2020 Parrathon, Frac Bretagne, Rennes, France

2020 Small World, Synthesis Gallery, Sofia, Bulgarie

2020 The Eye of Parr, Lorena Carrillo Gallery, Monterrey, Mexique

2019 Martin Parr: Oxford, f22 Foto Space, Hong Kong

2019-20   Think of Scotland, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Écosse, GB

2018 Life’s a Beach, Latitudes 21, Huelva, Espagne

2018 Foodographie, Beaugrenelle, Paris, France

2018 Martin Parr: Early Work 1971-1986, Huxley-Parlour, Londres, GB

2014-2018 Only in England: Photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr (exposition itinérante), Media Space, Science Museum, Londres, GB, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, GB, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Durham, GB, National Media Museum, Bradford, GB

2017 The Ceremony of Life, The Photographers Gallery, Londres, GB

2017 Sony World Photography Awards, Somerset House, Londres, GB

2017 Beach Therapy, Rocket Gallery, Londres, GB

2017 Cakes & Balls, Flatz Museum, Dornbirn, Allemagne

2017 Martin Parr, the Photo Space, Ludlow, GB

2017 Martin Parr, Qvale Galleri, Oslo, Norvège

2017 Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, Université d’Oxford, Oxford, GB

2017-18  Souvenir – A Photographic Journey, Versicherungs Kammer Kulturstiftung, Munich, Allemagne

2017 Los Inconformistas, Centro Cultural Las Condes, Santiago, Chili

2017 Martin Parr’s Dunoon, Dunoon Burgh Hall, Dunnon, Écosse, GB

 

COLLECTIONS

Centre Pompidou, Paris, FR

National Portrait Gallery, Washington, USA

Arts Council of Great Britain

Union Bank of Finland, Helsinki, Finlande

Musset for Fotokunst, Odense, Danemark

The Victoria and Albert Museum, Londres, GB

George Eastman House, Rochester, USA

Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, France

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA

Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japon

Calderdale Council, Halifax, GB

Getty Museum, Malibu, USA

Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, GB

Kodak, FranceMuseum Folkwang, Essen, Allemagne

Seagrams Collection, New York, USA

British Council, Londres, GB

Irish Arts Council, Irlande

Galerie Nationale d’Australie

Paris Audiovisuel, France

Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Allemagne

Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japon

Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo, Japon

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Pays-Bas

Tate Modern, Londres, GB

National Centre for Contemporary Arts, Moscou, Russie

National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires, Argentine

Archive of Modern Conflict, Londres, GB

Gemeente museum, Helmond, Pays-Bas

Irish Museum of Modern Art, Irlande

Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, USA

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, USA

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, USA

Guernsey Museums, Iles de la Manche, GB

The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, GB

The Guildhall, Londres, GB

Dudley Archives and Local History Services, GB

M+, Hong Kong

Wolverhampton Art Gallery, GB

La Filature, Mulhouse, France

Théâtre de la Photographie et de l’Image, Nice, France

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