Until November 20, the Galerie Clémentine de la Féronnière presents In Black & White: Martin Parr & Tony Ray-Jones, an exhibition dedicated to two emblematic figures of British photography. On the fringes of art and photojournalism, their black and white works greatly contributed to the development of photography in Britain from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.
The match between the gaze of Tony Ray-Jones and that of Martin Parr is striking, and it is no accident: although they never met, the discovery of Ray-Jones’ work in 1971 was for It was one of the defining moments in his own career. While a first year photography student at Manchester Polytechnic, he admired the talent of Ray-Jones who constructs intricate scenes in a distinctly British setting. In 1975 Parr moved to Hebden Bridge, north-east of Manchester, where he documented the lives of the inhabitants of this small industrial town in Yorkshire for five years. Now mainly known for his vibrant work in color, Martin Parr then began his first body of work in black and white, through which a structured and casual gaze was already expressed.
