Peter Marlow (photographer) explained

Peter Marlow (19 January 1952 – 21 February 2016) was a British photographer and photojournalist, and member of Magnum Photos.^[1]

Early life and education

Marlow was born in Kenilworth in 1952. He studied psychology at Manchester University, graduating in 1974.^[2]

Career

He began his photography career in 1975 working on an Italian cruise liner in the Caribbean before joining the Sygma news agency in Paris in 1976.^[3] In the 1970s, Marlow worked in Northern Ireland, Angola, The Philippines and Lebanon primarily as a war photographer, but soon found that the competition of photojournalism did not suit him.

I did get some very good pictures, and was doing a lot of conflict work, but I just realised I was never ever going to be Don McCullin. And actually, in certain situations, I was very, very scared.^[4]

He returned home to Britain, and worked in Liverpool on an eight-year project, Liverpool – Looking out to Sea, which documented what he perceived to be decline of the city under Margaret Thatcher.

He became associated with Magnum Photos in 1980 and became a full member in 1986, having been attracted to the freedom the agency gives its photographers to work on personal projects.^[5] Alongside Chris Steele-Perkins, he founded Magnum's London office in 1987. He served as the agency's president twice and was vice-president numerous times. The photographer Martin Parr said it was "difficult to overestimate" Marlow's contribution to Magnum".

He also worked regularly for The Sunday Times in the mid-1980s. In 1991 he received an assignment from the Somme department in France to photograph Amiens.^[6] Later he began to work abroad again, travelling to Japan, the United States, and other parts of Europe.^[7] His later photography is primarily in color.^[8] Though well known for his depictions of places, Marlow also documented politics with a collaboration with Tony Blair.^[3]

Marlow is also known for his photos of his three sons and wife.

Marlow died on 21 February 2016 from influenza contracted during a stem cell transplant as a treatment for multiple myeloma.^{[9] [10]}

Publications

Books by Marlow

• Liverpool: Looking out to Sea. London: Jonathan Cape/Random House, 1993. ;
• Concorde: The Last Summer. London: Thames & Hudson, 2006. . With a preface by A. A. Gill and an introduction by Mike Bannister.
  • Concorde: le dernier été. Paris: Thames & Hudson, 2006. . Translated by Joëlle Marelli.
• The English Cathedral. London and New York: Merrell, 2012. . With an introduction by Martin Barnes and other text by John Goodall.
• English National Ballet: Breaking New Ground. London: Magnum Photos, 2015. .
• Undercover Spitalfields: Market Stories. London: Magnum Photos, 2013. . With Ballymore Group.

Books with others

• Département Somme: regards de photographes. Amiens: Trois Cailloux, 1992. . Photographs by Marlow, Harry Gruyaert, Jeanloup Sieff, Michel Vanden Eeckhoudt, Martine Voyeux and Hugues de Wurstemberger; prefaces by Christian Caujolle and Jacques Darras.
• Way to Gods: Magunamu Foto: Kumano kodō, Santiago e no michi, ed. Nagasaka Yoshimitsu . Tokyo: Kawade Kobō Shinsha, 1999. . (Additional title on front cover: Ancient Kumano Roads and Roads to Santiago.) Contains photographs by Marlow of Kumano kodō and camino de Santiago; as well as photographs by Elliott Erwitt, Chris Steele-Perkins and Harry Gruyaert.
• The Shape of a Pocket. London: Bloomsbury, 2001. With John Berger.

Filmography

• 1989: Moving Stills – Channel 4, UK
• 1992: Waiting for Madonna – documentary, 15 min, directed by Marlow, TV Tokyo, Japan/Little Magic Productions USA
• 1994: Profile of Peter Marlow – The Late Show, BBC, UK

Awards

• 1982: Arts Council of Great Britain
• 1986: National Headline Award
• 1999: III Premio de Creación Fotográfica Luis Ksado^[11]
• 2006: Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society, Bath, UK^[12]

Exhibitions

• 1979: The Ultra Right in Europe, The Canon Gallery, Amsterdam
• 1983: London by Night, The Photographers' Gallery, London
• 1987: Peter Marlow's London Night Photos, Lausanne, Switzerland
• 1989: Liverpool, Il Diaframma, Milan
• 1993: Looking Out to Sea, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool; The Photographers' Gallery, London
• 1993: Brighton Besides the Seaside, University of Brighton, Brighton, UK
• 1994: Looking Out to Sea, Royal Photographic Society, Bath, UK
• 1998: Non Places, Keynes Gallery, Canterbury, UK
• 1999: Ancient Kumano Roads Japan and the Road to Santiago de Compostela Spain, Galleries in Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo and Wakayama, Japan
• 2000: Britain, Saison Photographique Cherbourg Octeville, France
• 2001: Nantes, ABN AMRO Gallery Nantes, France
• 2009–2010: London at Night, The Wapping Project Bankside, Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, London^{[13] [14]}
• 2011: Point of Interest, The Wapping Project Bankside, Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, London^{[15] [16]}
• 2013: The English Cathedral, The Wapping Project Bankside, Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, London^{[17] [18]}

Collections

Marlow's work is held in the following public collections:

• Museum of London, London
• Imperial War Museum, London
• Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
• The Arts Council of Great Britain, UK
• The Photographers' Gallery, London
• Centre national de la photographie, Paris
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London
• Royal Photographic Society, Bath, UK
• Institute Valenciano Arte Moderne, Valencia, Spain
• The National Portrait Gallery, London
• Archive of the Birmingham City Library, Birmingham, UK
• Magnum Photos Collection, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin, TX^[19]

External links

• Marlow's profile at Magnum Photos

Notes and References

1. News: Peter Marlow obituary. 3 March 2016 . 6 March 2016 . Sean . O'Hagan . Sean O'Hagan (journalist) . . London .
2. In Memoriam: Remembering the Photographers We Lost in 2016 . 2022-04-13 . Time . en.
3. Web site: Euro Visions biography . 10 December 2010 . 6 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110706134016/http://www.expo-eurovisions.be/site/en/eurovision2-2-2.asp . dead .
4. News: Peter Marlow's Incredible Photos of Eerie English Crisis. 2014-04-23. Vice. 2018-03-06. en-uk.
5. Web site: Obituary: Peter Marlow. 25 February 2016 . 7 March 2016 . Tom . Seymour . .
6. http://www.petermarlow.com/index1.html Personal website biography
7. http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.Biography_VPage&AID=2K7O3R1VJRKJ Magnum Photos biography
8. http://www.urbanencounters.org/?page_id=766 Urban Encounters biography
9. Stuart Franklin, "Peter Marlow: 1952-2016", Magnum Photos, 22 February 2016.
10. Olivier Laurent, "In Memoriam: Peter Marlow (1952 – 2016)", Time, 22 February 2016.
11. "Historial ", Deputación da Coruña. Accessed 5 April 2015.
12. "Honorary fellowships", Royal Photographic Society. Accessed 5 April 2015.
13. Web site: Peter Marlow at the Wapping Project Bankside. 26 November 2009 . 23 February 2016 . .
14. Web site: Exhibitions \ Peter Marlow \ London At Night. 23 February 2016 . The Wapping Project Bankside .
15. Web site: Exhibitions \ Peter Marlow \ Point of Interest. 23 February 2016 . The Wapping Project Bankside .
16. News: Portfolio: Peter Marlow . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220526/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/portfolio-peter-marlow-2285844.html . 26 May 2022 . subscription . live . Epstein . Robert . 22 May 2012 . The Independent . 14 June 2012.
17. Web site: Peter Marlow's 'The English Cathedral' at The Wapping Project Bankside. 22 July 2013 . 23 February 2016 . Jessica . Klingelfuss . .
18. Web site: Exhibitions \ Peter Marlow \ The English Cathedral. 23 February 2016 . The Wapping Project Bankside .
19. Web site: Peter Marlow Magnum Consortium. www.magnumconsortium.net. en. 2018-02-26.