Paddy Summerfield from his publisher Dewi Lewis

PADDY SUMMERFIELD Paddy Summerfield (The Mitre, Oxford) by Andy Swapp 18th February 1947 - 11th April 2024 "When I heard the sad news of the death of Paddy Summerfield I was over at EBS in Verona – the same printers where we produced Paddy’s first book, Mother and Father. There was a copy in the office there and I took the opportunity to look through it again – such a gentle yet powerful book – a book of which I am immensely proud. It reminded me how excited I was by the work it when I first saw it and what an easy decision it was to go ahead with publishing it. I knew that Paddy would be pleased but the enthusiasm, excitement and joy that he showed when I told him the news was truly wonderful.  And so began a relationship that spanned six books and more than a decade. And there was even another book, Pictures From The Garden, which was published last year. This was photographed in Paddy’s back garden and is a remarkable collaboration between six photographers – Alex Schneideman, Vanessa Winship, Sian Davey, Matthew Finn, Alys Tomlinson, Nik Roche and Jem Southam – who all wanted to express their respect for Paddy and his work. The very last book I did with Paddy was at the end of last year, ’The Beginnings of Eternity’; a departure into a world of colour using an old ‘flip phone’ to photograph his beloved garden and the people who loved and cared for him. Very much a travelogue, it expresses a journey that is both metaphorical and spiritual, a journey that he knew only too well he would soon be taking.  An extraordinary photographer and an extraordinary man, Paddy lived photography every minute of his day. Yet, despite his remarkable vision, his work would almost certainly have remained in the shadows but for the indefatigable energy and commitment of his partner, Patricia Baker-Cassidy, who brought order out of chaos. Without her considerable input and skills Paddy’s books would almost certainly still be an ambition and not a reality. We owe them both so much.  RIP Paddy."  Dewi Lewis

©️A.M.Swapp ©️A.M.Swapp ©️A.M.Swapp ©️A.M.Swapp Paddy from 30+ years ago in Blenheim Palace Grounds in Woodstock where he took a family portrait of me, my wife and children  . . . . . happier times, he will be sorely missed. He was challenging and difficult at times ( aren’t we all but!?) his affection for me and my family knew no bounds. his kindness and attunement to my children from the youngest age onward was a deep treasure. His extraordinary work exploring the inner life and expressionism, as his old friend and colleague in Fine Art Photography John Goto would have it, will live on forever Flowers at Paddy Summerfield’s North Oxford home ©️Andy Swapp Paddy Summerfield (web) - Mother / Father explore Mother / Father and other work here (above)

Photographers Ralph Gibson and Mary Ellen Mark

 I adored both of these world class photographers and recall stocking all the Gibson books I could lay my hands on when first employed at MOMA Oxford and running the front of house Bookshop (The Somnambulist etc) I was introduced to the work of Gibson (amongst many) by local photographer and friend since 1977 Paddy Summerfield. 

Ralph Gibson     Photographer Mary Ellen Mark     1967

“A great photograph needs no explanation; it functions by suggestion. There is no need to be explicit.“ Mary Ellen Mark

Ralph Gibson     Photographer Mary Ellen Mark, New York City     1967

“Every photograph is the photographer’s opinion about something. It’s how they feel about something: what they think is horrible, tragic, funny.” Mary Ellen Mark

A FEAST FOR THE EYES

For the new exhibition at The Photographer's Gallery comes this crass little gem. If it is meant to be funny it is lost on me! Amongst the most patronising of our reportage photographers former president of the legendary Magnum group who largely are known for supporting and saluting the artist/photographer, I guess photo journalists are included too*. 

I find the work of Parr extremely tiresome and pointless, like so much commercial photojournalism, tomorrow's chip paper he seemed so fond of (sic) derivative of the work of much better true art-photographers than he, from the legendary (Tony Ray Jones) to the contemporary (Tom Wood, Paddy Summerfield, Peter Mitchell and Peter Fraser) Parr's work is in essence superficial and schnide and deeply condescending towards it's subject (the one thing that the work of Summerfield, Wood and Ray-Jones never is or was, containing as they do genuine human warmth towards their subjects.  

Parr has since opened the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol largely being a vanity project consisting of collections of his own work and his collection of printed ephemera from wall paper samples to prostitute calling cards in the old telephone boxes (what WERE you doing in THERE Martin?). 
Parr claims in his wiki entry to have been inspired by the great American photographers Joel Meyerwitz , William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, frankly he is not even remotely in the same league. His fellow students at Manchester like Daniel Meadows and Brian Griffin are infinitely more expressive and genuinely interesting whose work generates and rewards frequent return visits, like much of the best of great art, Parr's work sadly does not. Once you 'get' it the work bears little value in viewing it ever again. Still he is nothing if not certain of his own worth, who else opens their own foundation to spread their own work!?

Recipe of the Month...

Martin Parr's Beans on Toast

Ingredients:2 x slices of white bread
1 x tin of beans

Method:
1. Toast bread
2. Heat beans
3. Tip onto buttered toast (very important - the toast needs to be buttered, no marg allowed!)
4. Serve

REALLY?

Just how patronising can one man get!? Ever scornful to the classes and especially condescending towards the lower or working class, Parr would find this presumably funny (Martin it really isn't!) as for the recipe, what IS that 'butter not margarine' dig and how do you imagine this to be funny? (Marg being known as being the spread of choice for those who could not afford butter)
 It summarises all that I detest about this man's work, it has unplumbed shallows! Beans on Toast a known meal of the working class, I imagine by now Parr and his kith feast on anything but. Patronising as ever whilst having their tea, kedgeree and afternoon tiffen laughing all the way to the bank.

Feast for The Eyes - The Photographer's Gallery

 #FeastForTheEyes

*the master photographer Philip Jones Griffiths objected and wrote to all fellow Magnum panellists  to try to stop Parr even becoming a member!)

BILL BRANDT

Well isn't the internet a funny place? I found this and it is in tribute to one of the finest and most interesting of British photographers, Bill Brandt. We had a small show of his at MOMA Oxford way back when and I was lucky enough to spot him on a Sunday afternoon as he popped in to view the hanging. He had not come to the private viewing and seemed like he was not even going to come to see his own show but I recognised him and he seemed flattered or at least intrigued that some gallery 'assistant' had known who he was. I was also fortunate enough to walk around the show with my dear friend and local photographer Paddy Summerfield who gave me, I now come to realise, what was a masterclass in photographic printing and re-touching as he guided me around each print pointing out the brush work and spotting that Brandt must have done on the prints. Why some of them were almost painted!

The notes on this wonderful little film are as follows:

Non-artists often misunderstand the nature of artistic tradition, and imagine it to be something similar to a fortress, within which eternal verity is protected from the present. In fact it is something more useful and interesting, and less secure. It exists in the minds of artists, and consists of their collective memory of what has been accomplished so far. Its function is to mark the starting point for each day's work. Occasionally it is decided that tradition should also define the work's end result. At this point the tradition dies.For purposes of approximate truth, it might be said that photographic tradition died in England sometime around 1905 --- coincidentally the year in which Bill Brandt was born. Brandt spent much of his youth on the Continent, and in the late twenties went to Paris to study with Man Ray. There he also discovered the photographs of Atget and the works of the French Surrealist film-makers. His own work already possessed a strongly surrealist character --- not the intellectually playful irrationalisme of his teacher Man Ray, but a mordant, poetic romanticism suggestive of de Chirico and Dore.When Brandt returned to London in the thirties, England had forgotten its rich photographic past, and showed no signs of seeking a photographic present. In the forty years since, Brandt has worked virtually alone, with only intermittent contact with the main channels of contemporary photography. Such isolation can starve all but the most independent talents, but for these it can provide a sanctuary where radical visions can develop undisturbed. Brandt's work has been consistently separate from the photographic consensus of the moment: reflective when it should have been militant, romantic when it should have been skeptical, experimental and formal when it should have been factual.In the years following his return to England, Brandt concentrated on photographing his countrymen, of all classes and conditions. These pictures are moving and strange; they express both sympathy and tranquil detachment, as though Brandt were photographing something that had existed long ago. Though unsparingly frank, his pictures seem to refer less to the moment described than to the issues of role, tenacity, courage, and survival.-This video is purely fan-made, if you (owners) want to remove this video, please CONTACT ME DIRECTLY before doing anything. We will respectfully remove it. None of these were created/owned by me. All credit goes to the respective owners. I don't get any monetary gain from this.

Project by Sandro Sansone