'Fascinated by the eccentricities of English social customs, Tony Ray-Jones spent the latter half of the 1960s travelling across England, photographing what he saw as a disappearing way of life. Humorous yet melancholy, these works had a profound influence on photographer Martin Parr, who has now made a new selection including over 50 previously unseen works from the National Media Museum's Ray-Jones archive. Shown alongside The Non-Conformists, Parr's rarely seen work from the 1970s, this selection forms a major new exhibition which demonstrates the close relationships between the work of these two important photographers.'
Tony Ray-Jones died tragically of cancer aged just 30. This perhaps gives his work an added gravitas as though his work did not have the chance to become diluted by repetition or derailed by new technology.
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| Andrea Mantegna -The Court of Mantua |
The woman’s apparent rapture is made all the more remarkable by its context - a boat trip to beachyhead. We are thrown head first into her private world - made all the more into voyeurs as even the people around her are oblivious. Powerful stuff.
Tony Ray-Jones images are split into two sections. The first is a broad selection of images of the British. There are beach scenes and shots of crufts. He looks at the poor and posh with equal gaze (a shot folk picnicking a Glyneborn is exquisite and excruciating). Theres’ a curious set of images of a dance troupe blacked-up (this brought back memories of watching the Black and White Minstrel show with my mum in the 1970’s). There are a lot of images - and collectively they seem to record the dignity of peoples lives rather than poke fun (is this something Martin Par is guilty of - is he to be charged alongside Mike Leigh of looking down not sideways at his fellow British ?). The second section is a selection of previously unseen pictures collated and curated by Par.
This image is commented on by Parr. He explains how the composition separates the characters and how this creates an intriguing un-spoken narrative. He’s right. There is picture by Parr himself of men spaced out in a row on the terraces of Halifax football ground. Its equally compelling.
Parr’s images are drawn from a series from Halifax, Hebdon Bridge and the surrounding area. They’re poetically evocative of a time and place now lost. The chapel plays a central part in people’s lives (now its move likely to be the mall) and like his forerunner Tony Ray Jones he has the skill to render the ordinary extraordinary through superb composition and perfect timing.
The show is superb. I am left struggling to separate the two image makers (their subject matter is so similar) so try to recall what stuck me at the show. Par’s images are technically more sophisticated - with Ray Jones preferring a simple 50mm F8 approach. But this technical difference does not make his images any more powerful. Indeed (as Par may well accept himself) perhaps the opposite.
