Paddy Summerfield

Paddy Summerfield (born 1947[1]) is a British photographer who has lived and worked in Oxford in the UK all his life.[2]

Paddy Summerfield
Born(1947-02-18)18 February 1947
Derby
EducationOxford Polytechnic (1965–1966); Guildford School of Art (1966–1968)

Summerfield is known for his "evocative series of black and white images, shot on 35mm film, which co-opt the traditional genre of documentary photography to realise a more personal and inward looking vision."[2] He has said his photographs are exclusively about abandonment and loss.[2]

Life and career

After taking an Art Foundation course at the Oxford Polytechnic, Summerfield attended Guildford School of Art, studying firstly in the Photography Department, then joining the Film department[3] the following year. In 1967, when still a first-year student, he made photographs that appeared in 1970 in Bill Jay's magazine Album.[4] Between 1968 and 1978, Summerfield documented Oxford University students in the summer terms.[3] His pictures published in Creative Camera, and on its cover in January 1974, were recognised as psychological and expressionist, unusual in an era of journalistic and documentary photography. Throughout his life, Summerfield has focused on making photographic essays that are personal documents.[3] From 1997 to 2007 he photographed his parents, his mother with Alzheimer's disease and his father caring for her.[3]

Like It Is was Summerfield's first London exhibition, a group show in Dixon's Photographic Gallery, Oxford Street, in 1967. Since then, his work has been exhibited at other London venues, including the ICA Gallery,[2] the Serpentine Gallery,[2] the Barbican,[2] and The Photographers' Gallery in its Newport Street home. In 1976, When Nicholas Serota was director of the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, he offered Summerfield the opportunity to exhibit Beneath the Dreaming Spires, his first one-man show, in 1976.

During his early career, he was awarded several Arts Council grants.

Publications

Books by Summerfield
  • Mother and Father. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2014. ISBN 978-1-907893-61-2.[5][6][n 1]
  • The Oxford Pictures 1968–1978. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2016. ISBN 978-1-907893-99-5.[7][8][n 2]
  • Empty Days. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2018. ISBN 978-1-911306-23-8.[n 3]
  • The Holiday Pictures. Stockport, UK: Dewi Lewis, 2019. ISBN 978-1-911306-48-1.[n 4]

Smaller publications by Summerfield
  • Weekend Away. Southport, UK: Café Royal, 2016. Edition of 200 copies.[n 5]
  • Remember Hope. Photopaper 17. Fotobookfestival Kassel, 2017. Edited by Gerry Badger.[n 6]
  • Distant Times. Southport, UK: Café Royal, 2018. Edition of 250 copies.[n 7]

Publications with others
  • Serpentine Photography 73: The Arts Council presents work by 43 young photographers. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1973. ISBN 978-0900085949. 45 cards (90 sides) in an envelope.
  • Family: Photographers Photograph Their Families. Edited by Sophie Spencer-Wood. London and New York: Phaidon, 2005. ISBN 0714844020.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions
  • 1967: Like It Is, Dixon's Photographic Gallery, London[1]
  • 1971: Young Contemporaries I Creative Camera Travelling Exhibition[11]
  • 1972: Young Contemporaries II Creative Camera Travelling Exhibition
  • 1973: Serpentine Photography '73, Serpentine Gallery, London. Curated by Peter Turner[1][12]
  • 1974: Co-Optic Real Britain, 19 February – 9 March. With Co-Optic group members Martin Parr, Chris Steele-Perkins, Peter Turner, and Nick Hedges.
  • 1975: Young British Photographers, with Brian Griffin, Chris Steele-Perkins, etc, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; The Photographers' Gallery, London; then travelling UK, Europe, USA[1]
  • 1975: International Photography, Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo[1]
  • 1976: Previous Exhibitors, Serpentine Gallery, London[1]
  • 1977: Singular Realities, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; Side Gallery, Newcastle[1]
  • 1977: Concerning Photography, 6 July – 27 August, The Photographers' Gallery, London[1]
  • 1982: The Third Meaning, Museum of Modern Art, Oxford[1]
  • 1982: Under the Arches, Stedelijk Museum, Leiden
  • 1984: Sequences, Cambridge Darkroom[1]
  • 1987: The Bradford Challenge, National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford[1]
  • 1988: Death, Cambridge Darkroom[1]
  • 1989: Through the Looking Glass, Barbican Centre, London[1][13]
  • 1989: Sun Life Photography Awards, National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford[1]
  • 2004: English Eyes, Leica Gallery, New York City. Curated by Peter Hamilton.

Film about Summerfield
  • Mother and Father (2015) – FullBleed Productions[2]

Collections

Notes
  1. Dewi Lewis's page about Mother and Father is here.
  2. Dewi Lewis's page about The Oxford Pictures is here.
  3. Dewi Lewis's page about Empty Days is here.
  4. Dewi Lewis's page about The Holiday Pictures" is here.
  5. Café Royal's page about Weekend Away is here.
  6. The page about Remember Hope at Photopaper's website is here.
  7. Café Royal's page about Distant Times is here.

References
  1. Potted biography of Summerfield; in Gerry Badger and John Benton-Harris (ed), Through the Looking Glass: Photographic Art in Britain 1945–1989 (London: Barbican Art Gallery, 1989), p. 197.
  2. "Mother & Father: A Portrait of Loss". British Journal of Photography. 31 August 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  3. Atwell, Oliver (6 September 2016). "Book review: The Oxford Pictures 1968-1978 by Paddy Summerfield". Amateur Photographer. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  4. "Paddy Summerfield: New talent", Album, issue 2 (March 1970), pp. 43–45. Jay made a PDF of this available from his website (which no longer exists); here is a 26 April 2012 Wayback Machine copy of this.
  5. O'Hagan, Sean (2 November 2014). "Mother and Father review – Paddy Summerfield's chronicle of loss and abiding love". The Guardian.
  6. O'Hagan, Sean (7 December 2014). "The best photography books of 2014". The Guardian.
  7. Crisell, Hattie (12 July 2016). "Images that capture the leisure — and loneliness — of college". The New York Times.
  8. "Photographing the long-haired, lovestruck students of 70s Oxford". I-D. 27 July 2016.
  9. Division, Eye. "Paddy Summerfield: Empty Days - Exhibitions at OVADA". www.ovada.org.uk.
  10. "The Holiday Pictures by Paddy Summerfield". 22 July 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  11. British Journal of Photography, February 1971
  12. "2008 – Serpentine Photography 73". Arts Council Collection. Retrieved 28 March 2017
  13. "Art Gallery Archive - Barbican". www.barbican.org.uk.
  14. "Oxford 1983 - Arts Council Collection". www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk.
  15. Record of a 1967 photograph (museum number PH.80-1984), Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
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