Martin Parr: an astute and uniquely British photographer |
The kitsch, the gaudy, the banal, the common, the superficial, the cheap: Martin Parr – who has died at the age of 73 – embraced and celebrated them all in his extraordinary pictures.
Born in Epsom in 1952 to solidly middle-class Methodist parents, Parr’s suburban childhood was dominated by his parents’ church going and passionate interest in ornithology. He was a keen trainspotter. His interest in photography was kindled by his grandfather George Parr, an amateur photographer, with whom Parr spent his childhood holidays in Yorkshire.
“I make serious photographs disguised as entertainment,” he once said, but the very nature of his photography saw some in his profession deny him the respect and acknowledgement he deserved.
His work chimed with elements of pop art and its obsession with consumerism, but in the photography world – certainly within the UK – there still seemed to be a certain cultural snobbery and unease about consciously engaging with this subject matter.
Part of that unease is to do with how the kitsch and the common are, certainly in Britain, bound up in questions of taste and class. Parr’s exhibition and book The Last Resort (1983-1986) brought him important recognition, including a show at London’s Serpentine Gallery, but also much criticism for its harsh portrayal of working-class people holidaymaking in New Brighton, Merseyside.
Inspired by what was then the new American colour photography and the work of photographers such as Stephen Shore and William Eggleston, as........