Martin Parr
Photographed the British at leisure in saturated colour and hard flash, and was accused of cruelty for it.
Martin Parr was born in Epsom in 1952 and studied at Manchester Polytechnic. The Last Resort, made at New Brighton between 1983 and 1985, changed British documentary photography by abandoning black and white social concern for saturated colour, ring flash and close-up detail, and it split opinion sharply — his election to Magnum was contested on the grounds that the work mocked its subjects. The projects since have been consistent in method: food, tourism, boredom, class, consumption, photographed at close range in bright artificial light. He founded the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol and has published a very large number of books.
Prints are editioned and are typically colour, which brings its own considerations: chromogenic prints from the period and later pigment prints of the same image are distinct, and the edition size is not consistent across images. The books are a substantial collecting field in themselves, particularly the early and small-run titles, and signed copies and first editions are traded seriously. Signature is usually on the verso or the mount with edition and date, and Magnum and Foundation documentation is the usual reference.
If you own a work by Martin Parr
Send photographs and whatever paperwork came with it. The first question is what the work actually is — edition or unique, when, and in what condition — because everything else follows from the answer. A valuation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Write to info@whitebankfineart.co.uk, or start below.
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.