British photographer Martin Parr, renowned for his color portraits of everyday life and class divisions in the UK, died on Saturday at his home in Bristol at age 73. Diagnosed with cancer in 2021, he leaves a revolutionary legacy in documentary photography. His family announced it on Instagram.
Martin Parr, born in 1952, became one of the most influential documentary photographers of the last half-century. He died on Saturday in Bristol, according to a family message on Instagram: “With great sadness we announce that Martin Parr (1952-2025) passed away yesterday at his home in Bristol”. He had been diagnosed with cancer in May 2021.
Renowned for capturing British eccentricity and social divisions, Parr revolutionized photography with his use of color, moving away from the traditional romantic black-and-white. His 1986 book, The Last Resort: Photographs of New Brighton, depicted New Brighton beach as a 'last resort' for the working middle class, showing cheerful yet depressing scenes of bathers, litter, and fish & chips consumers. “Coastal places are seemingly cheerful spots, but they also hide a certain depravity”, Parr explained.
In the 1980s, during the Thatcher era, he documented upper-class consumerism in The Cost of Living. Married to Susan Mitchel, with whom he had a daughter, Ellen, he lived in Bristol after periods in Ireland. His fascination with Benidorm led him to photograph the Spanish coast as a destination for eccentric Brits.
His joining Magnum in the 1990s sparked controversy; Philip Jones Griffiths criticized him, but Parr entered by one vote and served as president from 2013 to 2017. “All photojournalists are left-wing. You don't do this job if you don't care about people and show interest in their well-being. Though I only aim to create entertainment”, he told The Observer. A collector of odd objects, Parr opposed Brexit, yearning for the England he captured in his nostalgic images.