The Photographers' Gallery was founded in London by
Sue Davies opening on 14 January 1971, as the first public gallery in the United Kingdom devoted solely to
photography
Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...
.
It is also home to the
Deutsche Börse Photography Prize
Deutsch ( , ) or Deutsche ( , ) may refer to:
* or : the German language or in particular Standard German, spoken in central European countries and other places
*Old High German language refers to Deutsch as a way to define the primary characteris ...
, established in 1996 to identify and reward photographic talent and innovation, and the Bar-Tur Photobook Award.
History
Founder and director
Sue Davies established the original home of the Photographers' Gallery in a converted
Lyon's Tea Bar at No. 8 Great Newport Street in London's Covent Garden. Initially free to the public, the gallery offered a dedicated space for photography and photographers—the first of its kind in the UK.
The inaugural exhibition on 14 January 1971 was ''The Concerned Photographer'', an exhibition first shown in New York and curated by photojournalist
Cornell Capa.
In 1980 the Gallery acquired a neighbouring space at No. 5 Great Newport Street, extending its exhibition spaces and providing room for a bookshop and café. It was also able to accommodate an area for print sales, which focused on promoting and selling the work of photographers with proceeds going towards supporting the public programme.
Over the next four decades, the Gallery delivered a programme of exhibitions, talks and educational activities. The gallery has introduced international photographers
Juergen Teller,
Robert Capa
Robert Capa (; born Endre Ernő Friedmann, ; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist. He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.Kershaw, Al ...
,
Sebastião Salgado
Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado Júnior (8 February 1944 – 23 May 2025) was a Brazilian social documentary photographer and photojournalist.
He traveled in more than 120 countries for his photographic projects, which appeared in numerous press p ...
,
Andreas Gursky
Andreas Gursky (born 15 January 1955) is a German photographer and professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany.
He is known for his Large format (photography), large format architecture and Landscape photography, landscape colour photog ...
,
Shirana Shahbazi and
Taryn Simon
Taryn Simon (born February 4, 1975) is an American multidisciplinary artist who works in photography, text, sculpture, and performance.
Currently residing and maintaining a studio practice in New York City, Simon has had work featured in the Ve ...
to British audiences, while showing the work of UK based photographers including
Martin Parr
Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...
,
Zineb Sedira,
Melanie Manchot,
Nick Knight,
Corinne Day and
Nick Waplington.
Davies was director of the gallery for two decades and retired in 1991. She was followed by Sue Grayson Ford, for two years who left for family reasons in March 1994. In 2005,
Brett Rogers
Brett Charles Rogers (born February 17, 1981) is an American former mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 2005, Rogers has fought in EliteXC, Strikeforce, and Bellator.
Bac ...
was appointed director, succeeding Paul Wombell who had been in the position since 1994 and oversaw the purchase, with a £3.5m Arts Council grant, of a new venue at 16–18 Ramillies Street, Soho.
In May 2012 after a major capital campaign and redevelopment, The Photographers' Gallery opened at its new and current home in a former textiles warehouse. Designed by Irish architects
O'Donnell and Tuomey, this building in the West End has three exhibition spaces, a print sales gallery, an education and learning studio, digital media screen, bookshop and café.
In July 2022, Rogers announced that she would leave her role as director at the end of 2022, succeeded, from January 2023, by Shoair Mavlian. Mavlian was assistant curator at
Tate Modern
Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...
and later director of
Photoworks in Brighton from 2018.
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize
The
Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize annually rewards a photographer who has made the most significant contribution to the photographic medium in Europe during the past year. The prize was set up in 1996 by The Photographers' Gallery. Between 1997 and 2004, the prize was known as the
Citigroup
Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...
Photography Prize.
Deutsche Börse
Deutsche Börse AG (), or the Deutsche Börse Group, is a German multinational corporation that offers a marketplace for organizing the trading of shares and other securities. It is also a transaction services provider, giving companies and inv ...
has sponsored the competition since 2005, with a £30,000 prize. It has been described as "the biggest of its kind in photography in Europe" and "the most prestigious". Past winners of the £30,000 award include
Andreas Gursky
Andreas Gursky (born 15 January 1955) is a German photographer and professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany.
He is known for his Large format (photography), large format architecture and Landscape photography, landscape colour photog ...
(1998),
Juergen Teller (2003)
Luc Delahaye (2005),
Robert Adams (2006),
Walid Raad
Walid Raad (Ra'ad) (Arabic: وليد رعد) (born 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon) is a contemporary media artist. The Atlas Group is a fictional collective, the work of which is produced by Walid Raad. He lives and works in New York, where he is curr ...
(2007),
Sophie Ristelhueber (2010), artists' duo
Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin (2013),
Richard Mosse (2014). The 2017 winner was
Dana Lixenberg.
Bar-Tur Photobook Award
The Bar-Tur Photobook Award was created in 2014 in memory of British artist, Lesley-Ann Bar Tur. It supports (previously unpublished) photographers and artists in realising a photobook project through provision of a £20,000 production fee and partnership with an independent publisher. The inaugural award went to Angus Fraser who published ''Santa Muerte'' with
Trolley Books in 2014. In 2015,
Jack Latham won with ''Sugar Paper Theories,'' which was published by Here Press.
Publications
The Photographers' Gallery publishes books for some of its exhibitions.
"Gallery Publications"
The Photographers' Gallery. Accessed 20 September 2016
''Loose Associations'' is a quarterly publication from The Photographers' Gallery which commissions and publishes essays, images and artist projects related to but not defined by its programme.
References
External links
*
Bar-Tur Photobook Award
{{DEFAULTSORT:Photographers' Gallery, The
Photography museums and galleries in England
Art museums and galleries in London
1971 establishments in England
Museums in the City of Westminster
Art museums and galleries established in 1971
Photography in England