Signed X2 Martin Parr (Magnum) - Photographic Work 1971-2000 HC 1ST ED. + signed self-portrait postcard - 2002

Rare signed copy on the front endpaper by Martin Parr (1952-2025) of the original edition, this retrospective catalog published by Phaison on the occasion of the 1970–2000 retrospective exhibition held at the Barbican Centre in London in 2002. 354 pages with approximately 597 photographs, including 400 in color, all with high-quality printing, many full-page photographs with discreet location and date indications. Texts in English by Val Williams. Solid brown hardcover binding with a half-bound Bordeaux imitation cloth. This copy, in excellent condition (practically like new), is accompanied by an invitation card from the Musée du Jeu de Paume from 2009 signed by Martin Parr (who was a great collector, including of postcards...).

Book from my personal collection kept with the utmost care. Protected shipping with reinforced packaging and guaranteed international postal tracking. In case of multiple purchases, group shipping is possible with a refund of any excess postal fees paid via Paypal. (2.4 kg excluding packaging).

This exhibition, Photographic Work 1970 – 2000, from London traveled across Europe for the following five years, and this catalog immediately became the subject of various reprints starting in 2003, including a paperback edition and a trilingual edition in English, French, and German. In 2014, it was also reissued with a yellow and purple cover. This essential book offers a comprehensive overview of Martin Parr's work from the 1970s to mid-career, including previously unpublished early works up to its publication, allowing a better understanding of his evolution and the meaning of his work. Critic and exhibition curator Val Williams had unlimited access to Martin Parr's archives, and numerous interviews with the photographer helped her trace his life and career, providing new insights into his influences and convictions and assessing his importance in the art and photography world. This book, published anonymously, is sometimes presented online under this Phaidon cover with the title 'Common Sense,' although 'Common Sense' is actually a different book published by Dewi Lewis Publishing in 1999!!!

For over thirty years, Parr's sharp gaze on British life and customs has taken on an increasingly international dimension. Among the images presented here, drawn from the photographer's previous works and publications with Magnum, are 'A Fair Day,' 'Bad Weather,' 'Home Sweet Home,' 'Autoportrait,' 'The Last Resort,' 'The Cost of Living,' 'Signs of the Times,' and 'Think of England,' as well as many other series unpublished in book form. In black and white, Parr first captures a bygone, humorous England on the verge of disappearing. During stays in Ireland and also in England, he observes his fellow citizens facing rain, snow, and fog; the British run in all directions, sheltering under cardboard boxes or plastic bags, and taking refuge in telephone booths.

Following in the footsteps of American photographers, Martin Parr abandons black and white for color to inject a 'critical dimension.' This marks a major turning point. Fascinated by New Brighton, a shabby seaside resort near Liverpool, the photographer offers a sharp look at sunburned bodies, a tanning session near a bulldozer, a child wading through trash, kids dripping with ice cream, and trash bins full of greasy papers… With a slightly apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic tone, he depicts modest people enjoying their leisure time. In the images, the sun beats down and the flash makes the scenes even more raw. Parr portrays post-industrial England of the Thatcher era as a gritty, consumerist nightmare. After The Last Resort, his series The Cost of Living and Signs of the Times focus on the rise of the middle classes born from Thatcher’s ultra-liberal decade. His book Common Sense, shot between 1995 and 1999, features disgusting—and hilarious—close-ups of a disposable, globalized culture dominated by colorful junk food, heavily made-up women, eye-catching sexualization, dressed-up dogs, and banknotes held like sacred images. Through Magnum, the photographer receives numerous commissions that also enrich Small World, his album on theme parks and tourist destinations. From the Acropolis (Greece) to Disneyland Paris (Marne-la-Vallée), from Angkor Wat (Cambodia) to Machu Picchu (Peru), from Hua Hin (Thailand) to Venice (Italy), from Las Vegas (USA) to Benidorm (Spain), from the pyramids of Giza (Egypt) to Acapulco (Mexico), the world is covered with an unending flow of tourists that Parr tracks to highlight the gap between myth and reality. His camera captures a flood of bobble hats, caps, backpacks, cameras, selfie sticks, inflatable rings, and ultra-ugly souvenir shops. Behind the scenes of this global industry, the hilarious series Bored Couples immortalizes couples bored to death at restaurants. With humor, Martin Parr includes a photo of himself with his wife Susie in the series. (Based on articles from Le Monde and Libération dated December 9, 2025).

2.4 kg excluding packaging