Following his Autumn 2011 exhibition at M Shed, the Friends of Bristol Art Gallery contributed £1,000 towards the purchase of 10 Martin Parr photographs, of which the two shown on the Acquisitions page and the two shown here are examples.

The Visual Art, Public History and Communities teams at the Museum debated long and hard over the final selection but were in agreement on a representative group of 10 works covering key moments in Parr’s career. The examples came from from his Cost of Living series of the mid 1980s, his 1992 essay on Chew Stoke, and his 1994 Prefabs, as well as the more recent works from the 2000s recording generations of one family shopping at Cribbs Causeway and the queue outside the Banksy exhibition in 2009.

The selection chosen also includes the choice voted on by visitors to the Exhibition (the Chew Stoke ‘lost ball’ photo from 1992) and the Communities choice (the St Paul’s Carnival photo from 2009), both shown on the Acquisitions page. In addition, Martin Parr himself contributed a photo of his choice, taking the total to 11.

The Museum are happy that the selection represents a fine clutch of works by the internationally renowned Magnum photographer, which will join their recent acquisition of photographs of the harbour by Jem Southam, and they hope, will pave the way for more new photography acquisitions in future.

(Added 25 January 2012)