ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT
ONLY IN ENGLAND
Photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr
A major exhibition of work by British photographer, Tony Ray-Jones( 1941-1972) opens at The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge in Canterbury on Saturday 9th July. The exhibition will feature over 100 works drawn from the Tony Ray-Jones archive at the National Media Museum alongside 30 rarely seen early black and white photographs, The Non-Conformists, by Martin Parr.
TOP: Mayor of Todmorden’ s inaugural banquet, 1977 by Martin Parr © Martin Parr / Magnum Photos BOTTOM LEFT: Tony Ray-Jones, Blackpool, 1967; BOTTOM RIGHT: Beauty Contestants, Southport, Merseyside, 1967 by Tony Ray-Jones
After growing up in Kent, Essex and London, Tony Ray-Jones studied at the London School of Printing before gaining a scholarship to Yale University School of Art, working in and around New York before returning to the UK in late 1965. Between 1966 and 1969 Ray-Jones created a body of photographic work documenting English customs and identity. Humorous yet melancholy, these photographs were a departure from anything else being produced at the time.
In the October 1968 issue of Creative Camera magazine, he described his aim as,“… to communicate something of the spirit and the mentality of the English, their habits and their way of life, the ironies that exist in the way they do things, partly through their traditions and partly through the nature of their environment and their mentality. For me there is something very special about the English ' way of life ' and I wish to record it from my particular point of view before it becomes Americanised and disappears.”
Ray-Jones’ work quickly attracted the attention of the Institute of Contemporary Arts( ICA), London where they were exhibited in 1969. Tragically, in 1972, Ray-Jones died from Leukaemia aged just 30. However, his short but prolific career had a lasting influence on the development of British photography from the 1970s through to the present.
In 1970, Martin Parr, a photography student at Manchester Polytechnic, had been introduced to Ray-Jones. Inspired by him, Parr produced The Non-Conformists, shot in black and white in Hebden Bridge and the surrounding Calder Valley. This project started within two years of Ray-Jones death and demonstrates his legacy and influence.
Martin Parr says:“ Tony Ray-Jones’ pictures were about England. They had that contrast, that seedy eccentricity, but they showed it in a very subtle way. They have an ambiguity, a visual anarchy. They showed me what was possible.”
Parr is now an internationally renowned photographer, filmmaker, collector and curator, best known for his highly saturated colour photographs critiquing modern life.
This special exhibition draws from the Tony Ray-Jones archive, held by the National Media Museum. Around 50 vintage prints will be on display alongside an equal number of photographs which have never previously been printed.
Director of Canterbury Museums & Galleries, Joanna Jones said:“ An important aspect of The Beaney’ s exhibition programme is to showcase the very best photography which we are continuing through this partnership with the Science Museum and National Media Museum”.
Greg Hobson, curator of photographs at the National Media Museum says:“ The combination of Martin Parr and Tony Ray-Jones’ work will allow the viewer to trace an important trajectory through the history of British photography, and present new ways of thinking about photographic histories through creative use of our collections.”
Only in England: Photographs by Tony Ray- Jones and Martin Parr is on in the Special Exhibitions Room at The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge from 9th July to 25th September 2016
Admission: Free
The exhibition is a Media Space production. Media Space is a collaboration between the Science Museum( London) and the National Media Museum( Bradford).
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