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Graham Smith (photographer)

{{Short description|British photographer and woodworker}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}

Graham Smith (born 1947) is a photographer from Middlesbrough, England, who was particularly active in photographing Middlesbrough and the north-east of England in the 1970s and 1980s. Smith curtailed his career as a photographer in 1990, since when he has been a professional woodworker.

Life and work

Smith studied at the Middlesbrough College of Art and later the Royal College of Art (London).[http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Exhibitions.asp?gid=911&cid=131326 Notice] of Three from Britain exhibition, Artnet.com. In the 1970s he was among the photographers central to the Side Gallery, and created a series of photographs that showed working-class people in the north of England that were in a documentary style but were in fact montages.Mellor, David Alan. No Such Thing as Society: Photography in Britain 1967–87: From the British Council and the Arts Council Collections. London: Hayward Publishing, 2007. {{ISBN|978-1-85332-265-5}}.{{rp|33}} Work from the 1980s would show people within townscapes, and in the words of David Alan Mellor, were "atmospheric, steeped in popular (and personal) memory — dark, romantic places with all the melancholy attributed to Eugène Atget's familiar locations".{{rp|110}} Another Country, a joint exhibition with Chris Killip held in London in 1985, was generally well reviewed but to some appeared passé in the light of the new "postmodern" work of Martin Parr and others.Badger, Gerry. Chris Killip. London: Phaidon, 2001. {{ISBN|0-7148-4028-9}}. Page 11.

Smith curtailed his career as a photographer in 1990, since when he has been a professional woodworker. His writing has appeared in Granta.

Smith's photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London).MoMA and V&A: [http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Exhibitions.asp?gid=911&cid=131326 notice] of Three from Britain exhibition, Artnet.com.

Exhibitions

  • Documents of the North East. With Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, James Cleet, and Robert Carling. Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1977."[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191145/http://www.amber-online.com/exhibitions/exhibitions-1977-to-1999 Side Gallery Exhibitions 1977–1994]", Amber Online. Archived by the Wayback Machine on 3 March 2016.
  • Three Perspectives on Photography: Recent British Photography. Hayward Gallery, London, June–July 1979. With Thomas Cooper, Brian Griffin, Raymond Moore, Roger Palmer, Martin Parr, Aileen Ferriday, Christine Hobbeheydar, Yve Lomax, Sarah McCarthy, Jo Spence, Valerie Wilmer, Victor Burgin, Robert Golden, Hackney Flashers, Alexis Hunter.Three Perspectives on Photography: Recent British Photography (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1979; {{ISBN|0728701952}}).
  • North Tyneside. With Isabella Jedrzejczyk, Markéta Luskačová, and Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen. Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1981.
  • Consett Steel. Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1982.
  • South Bank. Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1984.
  • Another Country. With Chris Killip. Serpentine Gallery (London), 1985.
  • Quayside. With Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen. Touring exhibition from the Side Gallery (Newcastle), 1994.
  • No Such Thing as Society: Photography in Britain 1968–1987. Aberystwyth Arts Centre; Tullie House, Carlisle; Ujazdów Castle, Warsaw; Smith is one of a number of photographers shown.[http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-aad-no-such-thing-as-society.htm Press release] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080717111547/http://www.britishcouncil.org/arts-aad-no-such-thing-as-society.htm |date=17 July 2008 }} for the exhibition, British Council. Accessed 11 April 2008.
  • Three from Britain. With Chris Killip and Martin Parr. Rose Gallery, Santa Monica, March–May 2008.Rose Gallery [http://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Exhibitions.asp?gid=911&cid=131326 press release] for Three from Britain exhibition, Artnet.com. Accessed 11 April 2008.

Writing

  • "Albert Smith." Granta 95: Loved Ones. Granta, 2006. {{ISBN|0-903141-88-4}}.

Notes

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References

  • Schad, Ed. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20080603065836/http://www.photoinduced.com/archives/890 A Look at Three from Britain]". Artslant.com, 2008. Review of the exhibition. Accessed 11 April 2008.
  • {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603065836/http://www.photoinduced.com/archives/890 |date=3 June 2008 |title="Three Photographers from Britain: Nothing but Class" }}. Photoinduced.com, 2008. As accessed by the Wayback Machine on 3 June 2008. A description of the exhibition Three Photographers from Britain; includes an article based on an interview with Smith.

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Category:1947 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Middlesbrough

Category:Photographers from Yorkshire

Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art