Parr has one of the biggest private collections in England, where social documentary photography is found alongside works from the 1970s and 80s by Tony Ray-Jones, Chris Killip and Graham Smith. Artists such as Keith Arnatt, Mark Neville, Jem Southam and Tom Wood represent contemporary British photography.

The international section features images that have influenced Parr or with which he feels a strong personal connection, ranging from photographs by masters such as Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand and William Eggleston, to pictures by friends like John Gossage and Gilles Peress, as well as work by Japanese photographers, including Osamu Kanemura, Kohei Yoshiyuki and Rinko Kawauchi.

You may be intrigued to know that Parr has also acquired a selection of We English prints, two of which – ‘Mad Maldon Mud Race’ and ‘Holy Island of Lindisfarne’ – are included in the exhibition.

The gallery is also presenting Damien Hirst’s 1992 work Pharmacy until 7 February 2010.

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Magnum photographer Chris Steele-Perkins is launching his new book on England, at the Kings Place Gallery on October 8th. England, My England (Northumbria Press) brings together images taken in the country by Steele-Perkins over the past 40 years.

Here’s the blurb- “In his new book, Chris presents a sweeping, unique record of what he thinks makes England truly English. From Sunday cricket matches to snoozes in a deckchair; intimate family portraits to carefree children at play; circus shows with performing bears to the wilder performers of a street carnival; and from Saturday night dancing to race riots. Each picture tells a story of time and place and many of the images collected will strike a chord or a memory in the viewer. These natural and authentic photographs are a personal selection of the best and most important of Chris’s images that he has taken over 40 years of photographing in England.”

Reggae Festival, London 1974 from England, My England © Chris Steele-Perkins/ Magnum Photos

Over the years England has proved a rich landscape for many of the photographers in the Magnum collective, and continues to inspire (both Martin Parr and Mark Power are currently working on new projects here), as a result I’ve decided to give a quick tour through some of these photographic studies.

I’ve already discussed the work of a few of the Magnum photographers on the blog including Chris Steele-Perkins (here), Martin Parr (here) and Ian Berry (here):

Whitby, 1974 from The English © Ian Berry/ Magnum Photos

Bristol, 1995-1999 from Think of England © Martin Parr/ Magnum Photos

Other notable projects include:

George Rodger, one of the Magnum founders, who produced a seminal series of photographs on the blitz during World War II. The Blitz is a unique record of life in England during the autumn of 1940 as well as a moving tribute to the courage and humor of men, woman and children during one of the darkest periods of 20th century English history.

Canteen in public shelter, London 1940 © George Rodger/ Magnum Photos

Eve Arnold photographed extensively in England, and many of the photographs appear in her book In Retrospect (Alfred A. Knopf, 1997) including this wonderful image of Queen Elizabeth II on tour in the Midlands in 1968.

Queens Elizabeth II, The Midlands, 1968 © Eve Arnold/ Magnum Photos

Although better known for his photographs in his homeland of Wales, Land of My Father (Thames & Hudson, 2000), David Hurn undertook several assignments in England, and documented the famous Isle of Wight festivals in 1969 and 1970.

Revelers at the Isle of Wight Festival, 1969 © David Hurn/ Magnum Photos

In the mid-1970s Philip Jones Griffiths worked extensively in Middlesbrough in Northern England. Philip recently completed a new book of his lesser known studies of British life – including those from Middlesbrough – shot during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Recollections (Trolley, 2008) was published just before his death in early 2008.

Working men’s club, Middlesbrough, 1976 © Philip Jones Griffiths/ Magnum Photos

On assignment in Liverpool in the early eighties, photojournalist Peter Marlow bore witness to the enormity of the devastation afflicting inner cities. Marlow photographed a city in decline, isolated like an island surrounded by the dreams of a Thatcherite nation. Liverpool Looking Out to Sea (Jonathan Cape, 1993) forms one of the fiercest social documents of an inner city in Britain, and became one of the strongest indictments of an era.

Unemployed Tony and Marie in their children’s bedroom, Liverpool, 1985 © Peter Marlow/ Magnum Photos

In 1996, the young Donovan Wylie and new Magnum recruit produced a series called Working England.

Worker in Leeds City centre cafe, 1996 © Donovan Wylie/ Magnum Photos

More recently, Mark Power published a book called 26 Different Endings (Photoworks, 2007), which documented the outer limits of London as defined by the A to Z road atlas.

London south of page 148, A to Z, 2004 © Mark Power/ Magnum Photos

And I’ll finish with the work of Stuart Franklin and this photograph taken during the Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee celebration in 2002. Why? Because as a young snapper on assignment for The Sunday Times Magazine, I was stood next to him when he took it!

Spectators at Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee celebration, London 2002 © Stuart Franklin/ Magnum PHotos

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The new edition of 1000 Words Photography Magazine is now online and includes a review of We English.

“To photograph the unfamiliar and the exotic in a far-off land is one thing, but to turn your camera on your native country and extract beauty from the banal is quite another. Over the course of his career thus far, Simon Roberts has done both. Following on from his epic road trip around Russia in 2004-05 where he documented and detailed the personal lives of strangers for his project Motherland, the photographer has now traveled through England in a motorhome and looked at the English through the landscape of leisure. The subsequent book, We English, is an exceptionally handsome series of large-format landscape photographs – tableaux – of places that are regularly used for picnics, swimming and other outdoor pursuits at the weekend or during holidays. In them, we see groups of people interacting both with each other and the surrounding landscapes.”

“Never has the influence of painting on Roberts’ photography been more evident than in We English. Routinely photographing from a slightly elevated vantage point bears resemblance to sixteenth century Dutch and Flemish painters like Avercamp, Van Valckenborch and Bruegel. His lyrical and delicately coloured photographs certainly recall the sensitivity to light and atmosphere, reflecting appropriate human sentiments in weather conditions, times of day and poetic lights effects.”

“That said, We English does not necessarily present a wholly Romantic view of the countryside for Roberts, more often than not, hones in on manufactured scenes. Indeed, Roberts also fits in largely within the tradition of photographing England. You can see in his work, thematic similarities to Tony Ray Jones, John Davies and Martin Parr, although it is not, of course, ironic or cynical. Still, it isn’t social critique he is after. His work is unashamedly beautiful, more subtle in its discovery and representation of forms of cultural character and identity which actually, upon closer inspection, reveals a much great richness of detail and meaning. With a Simon Roberts it is a case of the more you look, the more you see. We English has tremendous historical and anthropological interest; it takes us on an amazing journey through ideas of belonging and memory, identity and place. It is one of the hose rare books than you can and will come back to time and time again.”

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We English is now officially out, available online and in all good bookshops! Here are some initial reviews-

NEW YORK MAGAZINE, October 5 2009
Simon Roberts — Editor’s Pick

“A gorgeous series of lyrical, light-strewn photographs that the artist took of the English at play—bathers in a chilly-looking Gloucestershire, a couple miniaturized amid misty hills in East Sussex—on a tour of his homeland”

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THE NEW MAGAZINE, The Independent on Sunday, October 4 2009
Arts&Books Reviews, We English

“Combining a Martin Parr-esque British wit with wide, open skies and an almost visible damp chill that are reminiscent of Mike McCartney’s Liverpool photographs, ‘We English’ is the result of a year-long odyssey through England in, fittingly, a motor home. Picturing ordinary people doing curious things, Roberts looks for ‘beauty in the mundance’.”

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THE INDEPENDENT, October 1 2009
This is England — Hannah Duguid

“The first place he photographed was the beach at Skegness in Lincolnshire, where people have holidayed since the nineteenth century. It’s a bit grim. The sky is overcast and the water brown, there is litter and everyone is bundled up, wearing coats. The scene is mundane and familiar to many, but Roberts has managed to bring a lyrical quality to it. The sea and sky are huge, the view is elevated and looking down we get a vast sense of space….There are two stories in his photographs: one is everyday, the other is eternal.” — Hannah Duguid

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BBC NEWS, October 1, 2009
The English at Leisure — Phil Coomes

“A project of this size can often take an unexpected turn and the final edit is sometimes the most challenging part. It’s tough to step back from the creation of the photographs, allowing yourself to see the pictures in the way a viewer will, and not as you remember them…. From my point of view, then, I think Simon has achieved all he set out to, and much more. The pictures are in themselves undeniably beautiful, but their real power comes from the collection as a whole. To remove from the stream of time a series of moments that are instantly recognisable as being part of life in England is a real achievement, and one that will ensure this collection will become the defining study of life in England at the end of this decade.”—Phil Coomes

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CREATIVE REVIEW, October 2009
‘Landscape as portrait’ – In his book, We English, photographer Simon Roberts looks at contemporary English leisure in all its collective glory

“….While many of Roberts’ images adhere to our traditional notions of beauty spots, others are of noisy, packed events like Derby Day. In each, however, the framing is such that the subjects are fixed firmly within their environment. Individuals are rendered small but, significantly, we can still read them by their expressions, their clothes and what they’re doing. It’s a technique that links back to landscape painting and the layered canvases of the 16th century. As a contemporary record, however, Roberts has captured a nation beautifully and brilliantly.”

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FLAK PHOTO, October, 2009
Simon Roberts: We English

A selection of photographs from We English series are featured in the October WEEKEND series at Flak Photo, an online forum for international contemporary photography, edited by Andy Adams.

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PHOTO DISTRICT NEWS, September 25, 2009
Simon Roberts: We English (photo of the day)

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DESIGN WEEK, September 17, 2009
We Happy Few, Review of Martin Parr’s Parrworld

“One of the younger photographers included in Parrworld is Brighton-based Simon Roberts, who has just completed a large project entitled We English that will be the subject of a major exhibition at the National Media Museum in Bradford next year…Like Parr, Roberts wants to swim against the tide of so much modern photography….We English looks at the country with a lyrical pastoral gaze rather than irony or sarcasm…Roberts shows people engaged in group leisure activities presented small in the frame and with light that is unfashionably undramatic. It’s a body of work that is unfashionable not only stylistically and in subject matter too. To take the photographs, Roberts covered his head with a dark cloth to peer through the concertina of a large-format view camera, essentially unchanged since the 19^th century, and shot on film.”

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WHAT’S THE JACKANORY, September 10, 2009
Video Interview with Andrew Hetherington on the popular What’s the Jackanory Blog.

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FOTO8, September 8, 2009
Interview with Guy Lane

“As pictures from his road trip around England go on display in London and New York, Simon Roberts talks to Guy Lane about people, places and his new book — We English.”

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LENS CULTURE, September, 2009
Simon Roberts: We English

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GO SEE, Issue 38, September 2009
We English – From personal identity to the beauty of banality

“Several of Simon Roberts’ shots of his country and her inhabitants, call to mind Massimo Vitali’s swarming beach images, yet Simon’s gatherings of people are different – somehow more English. The spaces come across as less tidy. Other motifs reminds us of Martin Parr’s soft touch, just more sublime and somehow more honest.”

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ELUXURY, September 4, 2009
Full English Snap-fest

“In August 2007 award-winning photographer Simon Roberts embarked upon a 13-month journey around Englnd to document the lives and landscapes of his home country with a large format camera. The resulting photographs are lush in their painterly composition but defiantly mundane in subject matter, conceived as an unflinching and unbiased exploration of what it means to be English today.”

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AHORN MAGAZINE, Issue 4, September 2009
Simon Roberts: We English discussed on this online magazine dedicated to contemporary photography, directed and edited by Daniel Augschoell and Anya Jasbar.

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THE GUARDIAN, August 22, 2009
The English at Leisure

“In search of a sense of place and belonging, Simon Roberts set off with his family to photograph England at play. The results are a beautiful, lyrical body of work.”

Posted in REVIEWS & PRESS | 1 Comment »

For those of you that couldn’t make it to The Photographers’ Gallery last night, I’ll be giving a talk at HOST gallery on Wednesday 14 October. The evening will include a screening of We English along with a book signing.

Wednesday 14 October, from 6.30pm
Entry: £5 Foto8 Members, £8 all others
Email rsvp@hostgallery.co.uk to reserve your place at any of these events

HOST Gallery
1-5 Honduras Street
London, EC1Y 0TH
+44 (0)20 7253 8801
www.hostgallery.co.uk
info@hostgallery.co.uk

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