Painted Photographs

From the collection of Martin Parr

Photographer and collector Martin Parr’s ‘painted photographs’, found in flea markets and second-hand shops, are press prints and publicity shots of actors, musicians and sports stars from the post-war decades. The images have been ‘painted’ by newspapers or magazines to improve their reproduction or indicate areas for cropping. Exhibited for the first time, these pictures of stars such as Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, John and Yoko show us how images of celebrities were refined and manipulated in a time before Photoshop.