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Home>Exhibitions>2023>This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Now on View

January 29 – June 11, 2023
West Building, Ground Floor, Galleries G27–⁠⁠G29

Britain experienced profound changes in the 1970s and 1980s, when it was racked by deindustrialization, urban uprisings, the controversial policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Photography became a central form of creative expression during this period, supported and disseminated through new schools, galleries, artists’ collectives, magazines, and government funding.

This Is Britain brings together the work of a generation of photographers who were commenting on the deep unrest of these pivotal decades. Vanley Burke, Pogus Caesar, Anna Fox, Paul Graham, Sunil Gupta, Chris Killip, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Martin Parr, and others pictured communities, traditions, and landscapes affected by Britain’s shifting social and economic realities. Together, they photographed a nation redefining what it meant to be British and, ultimately, modern.

Explore Selected Works

This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Vanley Burke, Boy with Flag, Winford in Handsworth Park, 1970, printed 2022, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Pogus Caesar, Handsworth Riots: Birmingham, United Kingdom, September 1985, printed 2022, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, © Pogus Caesar/OOM Gallery Archive, ARS, New York, DACS, London
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Young Couple in a Backyard on a Summer’s Day, 1975, printed 2012, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2018.108.2
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

John Davies, Agecroft Power Station, Salford, 1983, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2018.99.2
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Martin Parr, Peter Frazier, Royal Commonwealth Society "Function for a Summer Evening", Bristol, 1987–1989, chromogenic print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2019.81.1
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Martin Parr, Peter Frazier, New Brighton, Merseyside, 1984, chromogenic print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2019.81.2
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Anna Fox, Independent Video Production Company, Equipment Department. Docklands Enterprise Zone. Hire Manager (left), Account Manager (right), 1988, chromogenic print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2019.69.4
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Karen Knorr, Newspapers are no longer ironed, Coins no longer boiled So far have Standards Fallen., 1981–1983, printed 2015, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2019.79.4
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Colin Jones, The Black House, London, 1973–1976, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2020.131.1
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Chris Killip, Crabs and People, Skinningrove, North Yorkshire, UK, 1981, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2019.76.2
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Graham Smith, The Queen’s Pub, Southbank, Middlesbrough, 1981, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2019.82.1
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Paul Graham, Little Chef in Rain, St. Neots, Cambridgeshire, May 1982, chromogenic print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2020.41.1
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Vanley Burke, Young Men on See-Saw, Handsworth Park, Birmingham, 1984, printed 2021, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2022.112.1
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Sunil Gupta, Untitled #1, 1988, printed 2020, inkjet print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2022.23.1
This Is Britain: Photographs from the 1970s and 1980s

Chris Steele-Perkins, Hypnosis Demonstration, Cambridge University Ball, 1980–1989, silver dye bleach print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2022.29.1

Video

Sunil Gupta

Arnold Newman Lecture Series on Photography

Watch a virtual presentation with artist Sunil Gupta, whose work is featured in this exhibition.

Story

The “Shirley Card” Legacy: Artists Correcting for Photography’s Racial Bias

The artisans from the tiny town of Gee’s Bend, Alabama, have been making a global impact for generations.

In-Person Events

February 12 – May 27

Burning Illusions

British Film and Thatcherism

This film series engages questions of cinematic representations of race, class, and sexuality through examples of moving images rooted in Britain’s contested social and political histories. Registration is required.

March 24 – June 2

Exhibition Tour

What did it mean to be British in the 70s and 80s? Join this conversational tour to learn how a generation of photographers pictured a changing nation and changed photography in the process. Led by staff from the Department of Interpretation. No registration required.

Virtual Events

May 17, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.

Conversations with Artists: Vanley Burke and Mark Sealy

Registration Required

Join us for a conversation about Black British photography in the 1970s and 1980s with curator and cultural historian Mark Sealy and artist Vanley Burke as they share their perspectives on new opportunities for Black British photographers, as well as continuing obstacles within the broader context of racial tensions and conflict.

May 24, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.

Conversations with Artists: Anna Fox and Karen Knorr

Registration Required

Join us for a conversation with artists Anna Fox and Karen Knorr about women's roles in British photography in the 1970s and 1980s. They will share their perspectives on new opportunities for female photographers starting in the 70s, including the growth of feminist photography and the continuing obstacles women faced in a male-dominated field.

Organization
Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington

The exhibition is curated by Kara Felt, assistant curator of art at the Denver Botanic Gardens and a former Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow in the department of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, with the organizational assistance of Diane Waggoner, Curator of Photographs, National Gallery of Art.

Passes
Admission is always free and passes are not required

Banner detail: Vanley Burke, Boy with Flag, Winford in Handsworth Park, 1970, printed 2022, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund