Martin Parr
Martin Parr CBE (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in particular documenting the social classes of England, and more broadly the wealth of the Western world.
His major projects have been rural communities (1975–1982), The Last Resort (1983–1985), The Cost of Living (1987–1989), Small World (1987–1994) and Common Sense (1995–1999).
Since 1994, Parr has been a member of Magnum Photos. He has had around 40 solo photobooks published, and has featured in around 80 exhibitions worldwide – including the international touring exhibition ParrWorld, and a retrospective at the Barbican Arts Centre, London, in 2002.
The Martin Parr Foundation, founded in 2014, opened premises in his hometown of Bristol in 2017. It houses his own archive, his collection of British and Irish photography by other photographers, and a gallery.
Biography
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022
- Martin Parr: Time and Place, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College Art, Massachusetts, USA
2021
- Parr’s Ireland: 40 Years of Photography, Gallery of Photography, Dublin, Ireland
2020
- Martin Parr: Think Of Scotland, The Pier Arts Centre, Orkney, UK
- Martin Parr: Parrathon. A Retrospective, Frac Bretagne, Rennes, France
2019
- Martin Parr in Wales, National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff, UK
- Martin Parr: Retrospective, NRW-Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft, Düsseldorf, Germany
- 50 years, 50 books: Masterworks from the library of Martin Parr, LUMA Arles, Arles, France
- Martin Parr: Only Human, National Portrait Gallery, London, London, UK
- Martin Parr: Only Human, Magnum London, London, UK
2018
- Holiday Parr-ty: British Food Photographs by Martin Parr, Janet Borden Inc., Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Martin Parr: Return to Manchester, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
- Martin Parr: Early Work 1971-1986, Huxley-Parlour Gallery, Mayfair, London, UK
2017
- Sony World Photography Award & Martin Parr – 2017 Exhibition, Somerset House, London, UK
- Martin Parr: The Ceremony of Life, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK
- Untouched by Time: The Athenian Acropolis from Pericles to Parr, Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont, USA
2016
- Martin Parr: Stranger In Paradise, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
- Martin Parr: Glamour stakes, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia
- Martin Parr: A Photographic Journey, Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna, Austria
- Unseen City: Photos by Martin Parr, Magnum London, London, UK
- The Rhubarb Triangle and Other Stories, Magnum London, London, UK
- The Rhubarb Triangle and Other Stories: Photographs by Martin Parr, The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK
- Martin Parr: Life’s a Beach, ACP, Australian Centre for Photography, Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia
2015
- Life’s a Beach: Photographs by Martin Parr, Telfair Museums, Telfair Academy, Savannah, Georgia, USA
- The Non-Conformists: Photographs by Martin Parr, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, UK
- Life’s a Beach: Photographs by Martin Parr, Museum of Fine Arts, Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA
2014
- Martin Parr: Food (& Other Series), Galerie Kamel Mennour, Paris (rue Saint-André des arts), 6e, Paris, France
- Martin Parr: The Amalfi Coast, Studio Trisorio, Naples, Italy
- Martin Parr: Black Country Stories, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK
- Martin Parr, Blindspot Gallery, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong
- Life’s a Beach, Middlebury College Museum of Art, Middlebury, Vermont, USA
- Martin Parr: Paris, MEP, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, 4e, Paris, France
2013
- Martin Parr: Souvenir, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, Ausstellungsstrasse, Zürich, Switzerland
- Martin Parr: Life’s a Beach, Aperture Foundation, Chelsea, New York, USA
- Martin Parr: Luxury, Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow / Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia
2012
- Martin Parr: Luxury and Beaches, Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing, Beijing, China
- Fashion Magazine, Magnum London, London, UK
- Life’s a Beach, Magnum London, London, UK
- Martin Parr: Photography and Collecting, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Martin Parr : In Focus, Niagara Galleries, Melbourne, Australia
- Martin Parr: Black Country Stories, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK
- Martin Parr: Painted Photographs, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
2011
- Martin Parr: Common Sense Revisited, Martin Asbaek Gallery, Indre by, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010
- The House of Vernacular: Selected by Martin Parr, Fabrica, Brighton, UK
- Martin Parr, Stephen Daiter Gallery, River North, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2009
- Parrbooks, Rocket Gallery, London, UK
- Martin Parr Exhibition, Magnum London, London, UK
- Planète Parr: The Martin Parr Collection, Jeu de Paume, Paris, 1e, Paris, France
- Martin Parr: Parr-O-Rama, Janet Borden Inc., Soho, New York, USA
2008
- Flatland: Martin Parr, Flatland Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands
- Announcement, Flatland Gallery, Utrecht, Netherlands
- Parrworld, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021
- Picturing the South: 25 Years, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- The Pet Show, Fotografiska Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
- Selections from the Collection, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York, USA
- All This Happened: Twenty Nine Years Of RoseGallery, RoseGallery, Santa Monica, California, USA
- Facing Britain, Kunsthalle Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
- Seaside: Photographed, Grundy Art Gallery, Blackpool, UK
- Toiletpaper & Martin Parr, Villa Medici, Roma, Italy
- Here, There, Somewhere, Galerie Paris-Beijing, Paris, Paris, France
- Light Years: The Photographers’ Gallery at 50, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK
- ONLINE: There’s no place like home, Magnum London, London, UK
- Into the Blue, RoseGallery, Santa Monica, California, USA
- Seaside: Photographed, The Exchange, Penzance, UK
2020
- ONLINE: Seaside: Photographed, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK
- Grayson’s Art Club, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
- Seaside: Photographed, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK
- Open for Business – Magnum photographers on commission, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation, Eschborn, Germany
- Over Coffee, Gowen Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
- ONLINE: La Mirada: Fotografías y collages, Galeria Rafael Ortiz, Sevilla, Spain
- 20-20: Twenty Years of Collecting Contemporary Art, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK
2019
- Holidaze, Janet Borden Inc., Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Narrative in Photography, Gaa Gallery, Provincetown, Provincetown, Massachusetts, USA
- Photography Season, National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff, UK
- Feast for the Eyes: The Story of Food in Photography, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, UK
- Distinctly, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
- Street. Life. Photography. Seven Decades of Street Photography, Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna, Austria
- Carnival Pop Up, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
- Contemporary Art: Recent Gifts and Acquisitions, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
- Food for the Eyes. The Story of Food in Photography, C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Seaside: Photographed, Turner Contemporary, Margate, UK
- Versailles – Visible/Invisible, Chateau de Versailles, Versailles, France
- Changing Views: 20 Years of Art Collection Deutsche Börse, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Fotografi a Roma, Museo di Roma, Rome, Italy
- The Space Between, Julie Saul Gallery, Brooklyn, New York, USA
2018
- Feast for the Eyes, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Remembrance, RoseGallery, Santa Monica, California, USA
- Jahresgaben 2018, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany
- Inhabiting the Mediterranean, IVAM, Institut Valencià d`Art Modern, Valencia, Spain
- Sibylle Bergemann & Martin Parr: Golden Hearts, Loock Galerie, Berlin, Germany
- Modern Nature: British Photographs from the Hyman Collection, The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK
- Breaking Point/Space [Space] Street. Life. Photography: Seven Decades Of Street Photography, Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Little/Big, Janet Borden Inc., Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Chronicle, Ffotogallery, Turner House Gallery, Cardiff, UK
- Beyond View, Belfast Exposed, Belfast, UK
2017
- Aging Pride, Lower Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
- A Green and Pleasant Land, Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, UK
- An unorthodox flow of images, CCP, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Fitzroy, Australia
- Sulle vie dell’Illuminazione: The Myth of India in Western Culture 1808-2017, Collezione Giancarlo e Danna Olgiati, Lugano, Switzerland
- I Scream, You Scream, Robert Mann Gallery, Upper East Side, New York, USA
- Beheaded, Richard Heller Gallery, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California, USA
- (Im)possible to see: North Korea, The Lumiere Center for Photography, Moscow, Russia
- Magnum Manifesto, International Center of Photography, Lower East Side, New York, USA
- Tony Ray-Jones & Martin Parr: Only In England, The Bowes Museum, Durham, UK
2016
- All I Want For Christmas Is…, GDM…, 3e, Paris, France
- The shop facing the corner, Baronian Xippas, Brussels (Rue de la Concorde), Brussels, Belgium
- Strange and Familiar: Britain as Revealed by International Photographers, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
- An Imagined Museum: Works from the Pompidou, Tate and MMK collections, MMK, Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
- Strange and Familiar: Britain as Revealed by International Photographers, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
2015
- Recent Acquisitions at the Athenaeum, Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla, California, USA
- Magnum Contact Sheets, Foam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- When Water Matters: Painting and Photography from J.M.W. Turner to Olafur Eliasson, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, Germany
- A History of Photography, George Eastman Museum, Rochester, New York, USA
- Secret 7″, Somerset House, London, UK
- Books Beyond Artists: Words and Images, Ivorypress, Madrid, Spain
- Only in England: Photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK
- Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
- The Chinese Photobook, Aperture Foundation, Chelsea, New York, USA
2014
- Coletiva: Fotografias, Laura Marsiaj Arte Contemporanea, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- City of Fremantle Art Collection: Girt by Sea, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, Australia
- ART & ME, Mudam Luxembourg, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
- Lorenzo Vitturi: Dalston Anatomy, Yossi Milo Gallery, Upper West Side, New York, USA
- Hunting – the world of intense concentration, Flatland Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Rich Pickings: Displaying Wealth, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MKG), Hamburg, Germany
- Magnum Photos: One Archive, Three Views, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, UK
- Recalculating Route, Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Petah Tiqva, Israel
- Open for Business, Magnum London, London, UK
- Postcards from America: Wisconsin, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
- Postcards From America: Milwaukee, Magnum London, London, UK
- Photography, Martin Asbaek Gallery, Indre by, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Aperture Remix, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California, USA
- Open For Business, Magnum London, London, UK
- Ebb and Flow: A Visual Chronicle of the Changes within Liverpool’s Chinatown, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
2013
- You are The Company in Which You Keep, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland, UK
2012
- The Latin American Photobook, Aperture Foundation, Chelsea, New York, USA
- Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present, The National Gallery, London, St. James’s, London, UK
- Family Matters: The Family in British Art, Tate Britain, Millbank, London, UK
- Strangers in a Strange Land: Photographers’ First Impressions, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- The Family in British Art, Museums Sheffield, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, UK
2011
- Magnum Contact Sheets, Magnum London, London, UK
- Daniele Tamagni & Africolor, Danziger Gallery, Upper East Side, New York, USA
- Visual Correspondences, Slought Foundation, University City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Investigations of a Dog, Magasin 3 Stockholm Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
2010
- First Floor – Second Degree: The Mudam Collection, Mudam Luxembourg, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg
- Investigations of a Dog, La Maison Rouge, 12e, Paris, France
- Embarrassment of Riches: Picturing Global Wealth, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- The Other Britain Revisited: Photographs from New Society, V&A London, South Kensington, London, UK
- In Focus: Tasteful Pictures, Getty Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
- Autumn Masterpieces: Highlights from the Permanent Collection, CCP, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Fitzroy, Australia
- Party!, The New Art Gallery Walsall, Walsall, UK
- In the Vernacular, The Art Institute of Chicago, Loop, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- No Singing Allowed: Flamenco and Photography, Aperture Foundation, Chelsea, New York, USA
- Unpopular Culture, Mead Gallery, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, UK
2009
- No Such Thing as Society, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
- Martin Parr: Parrworld, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
- There’ll Always be an England, Stephen Daiter Gallery, River North, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- “There’ll Always Be An England!”: Vintage Works By Burt Hardy With Works By Bill Brandt, Martin Parr, Brian Seed and Others, Stephen Daiter Gallery, River North, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Martin Parr, Southbank Centre, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
- Luxury, Magnum London, London, UK
- Beaches By Martin Parr, Magnum London, London, UK
- Exposures of Landscape and Life: Photographs from the Sheldon’s Permanent Collection, Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
2008
- For A Language To Come, Carolina Nitsch Contemporary Art, Soho, New York, USA
- Between Memory and History Bert Teunissen, Witzenhausen Gallery, Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands