Cathy's Art Diary

Charming exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery of work by the documentary photographer Martin Parr. I’ve said before that I love Parr’s work and this show didn’t disappoint. It concentrated on his more recent work but drawing on earlier work to demonstrate how he has followed the similar themes building up an archive of images of British life. All the work was shown in a large, painting like format, so they were all easy to look at and the show flowed well. The rooms were themed and many were on the topic of the British at leisure at home and aboard. I loved the room of images from horse races showing excited faces in crowds. It was also fascinating to see the room of post referendum pictures which reflect Brexit Britain and I liked the section on the establishment with the amazing picture of the Queen from behind leaving a livery company event. I hadn’t realised that Parr was behind the BBC One Oneness films which are shown before programmes. They each show a gr...

Delightful evening at the National Portrait Gallery listening to Martin Parr being interviewed by Phillip Prodger, the curator of the current exhibition of Parr’s work at the gallery. I love Parr’s work having first discovered it at a show at the Science Museum a few years ago and he was everything I hoped he’d be, dry, witty and engaging. He sees himself as social documentary photographer and he discussed what he felt this was and how he realised he was building an archive of British life. He sees his main subject as the Western world at leisure. They talked about what makes a good photograph and Parr said “I am waiting for the right cast to line up in front of my camera”.  He talked about his love of comedy and how he sees great truth and observation in it. He was asked if he represented clichés and said “Clichés become clichés because they are often true.”

Charming exhibition at the National Maritime Museum looking at the work of four photographers who have focused on the British seaside, Martin Parr, Tony Ray-Jones, David Hurn and Simon Roberts. The exhibition space is beautifully designed with the centre devoted to a cinema disguised as beach huts, starting in shades of grey to reflect the black and white pictures then gradually becoming coloured. The videos   about the artists shown there are excellent. The works started in the late 1960s with the work of Ray-Jones as part of his “The British at Leisure” series with all the lovely clichés of sandcastles, men in socks and jackets and getting changed under towels but all pictured with a wry humour. The theme was continued by Hurn’s pictures from the 1970s. Both were showing the seaside holidays of my youth. Worryingly no-one really looked happy! Maybe the British endure their holidays rather than enjoy them.   Colour came with Parr’s pictures. I’m a huge fan ...

Delightful exhibition at the Photographers’ Gallery of work for sale by Martin Parr. I have seen and loved Parr's work before with its close observation of British life in the 70s and 80s. The work came from various series by him including “Bad Weather” and “The Non-Conformists”. I am partiality fond of his pictures from around Calderdale in West Yorkshire as it’s an area I know well and he catches its eccentricities. I’m very fond of the picture I am using here of an old man balanced precariously on a step ladder to wash the window above his front door. Closes on 23 April 2017

Lovely exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery of photographs taken by Martin Parr, who has been photographer for the City of London since 2013. I loved the mix of the formal and informal in this show both in the style of the pictures and of the subject matter. The pictures were shown in big clear poster style images. There were some great pictures of the crowds waiting for events including a wonderful one of the back of the Queen with the car waiting for her in front of her and then the crowd beyond.   I also loved the juxtaposition of old and new old such as a picture of the mayor and musketeers walking past a Pret a Manager! There was a lovely sense of fun too in pictures such as one of members of the Mercers’ Company changing into their robes in a back street. My favourite image though was the one shown here of a pair of Household Cavalry Boots minus their owner. I did a double take on first seeing it to wonder where the rest of the person had gone. Close...

N ostalgic exhibition of photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr at the Science Museum. As I was a child in the 1960s I found it quite strange for life then to be looked at almost as an anthropological project! I much preferred the work of Martin Parr which had warmth and humanity about it. I particularly like his work from around Hebden Bridge as it is an area I know well and I though he captured the close nit communities there. I found Tony Ray-Jones work more mocking. He seemed to specializing in picking an image which showed a person in isolation within a crowd and big events like carnivals but with few people at them. Oddly works of his chosen by Martin Parr had a warmer more sympathetic side to them. Reviews Guardian