Photo: Matilda Temperley
‘When human beings are suffering, they tend to look up, as if hoping for salvation. And that’s when I press the button.’—Don McCullin
Photographer Don McCullin has witnessed some of the most harrowing humanitarian disasters of the last half-century, having covered every major conflict in his adult lifetime. His assignments included the Vietnam and Biafra War, Northern Ireland, the Lebanese Civil War, Belgian Congo, the Russian invasion of Afghanistan and the fall of Phnom Penh. In pursuit of his work, he was wounded in Cambodia, fell from a roof in Salvador, was imprisoned by the Idi Amin regime in Uganda, and contracted cerebral malaria in West Africa. But in the course of his long career, and through his dedication to documenting global wars and conflict, he has become celebrated both as a master of black and white photography, and as history’s greatest war photographer.
His early professional career shone a harsh spotlight on the reality of post-war life, including the stark landscapes of the industrial north, the increasing unemployment and homelessness levels in the capital, and growing unrest across the country. For the last two decades, McCullin has turned to look at the land around him, namely the Somerset village in which he was evacuated during the Blitz. Often referring to the sweeping rural landscape as his greatest salvation, the photographer demonstrates the full mastery of his medium with stark black and white images resonating with human emotion whilst retaining the honesty and grit synonymous with his earlier works.
McCullin holds a Commander of the British Empire medal, and is only the second photographer to become a Knight of the Realm. Major exhibitions include: ‘Hearts of Darkness,’ Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England (1980); Barbican Center, London, England (1998); La Maison de la Photographie, Paris, France (2002); ‘Shaped By War,’ Imperial War Museum, London, England (2012); Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries, England (2017), a part of the Tate’s highly celebrated Artist Rooms. A major retrospective will take place at the Tate Britain, London, England in early 2019.
Don McCullin
Biography
Print Biography1948 Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts and Buildings
1954-56 Military service in the Royal Air Force
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Chateau La Coste, 'Southern Frontiers', Le Puy-Sainte-Réparade, France
Hamiltons Gallery, 'Don McCullin. Proximity', London, UK
Fondazione Sozzani, 'Don McCullin. Photographs from the Collection of Fondazione Sozzani', Milan, Italy
'XPOSURE International Photography Festival', Sharjah, UAE
Somerset House, Photo London, 'Don McCullin. Photo London Master of Photography 2016', London, UK
Hamiltons Gallery, 'Don McCullin. Eighty', London, UK
Holburne Museum, 'The Observer Observed', Bath, UK
State Library of New Sourth Wales, 'Don McCullin. The Impossible peace. From war photographs to landscape, 1958-2011', Sydney, Australia (Travelling Exhibition)
National Gallery Canada, 'Don McCullin. A Retrospective', Ottawa, Canada
Tate Britain, 'Don McCullin', collection display, London, UK
Hamiltons Gallery, 'Don McCullin. Platinum', London, UK
Victoria Art Gallery, 'Shaped by War', Bath, UK (Travelling Exhibition)
Science + Media Museum, 'Don McCullin. In England', Brighton, UK
National Portrait Gallery, 'Faith and Church. Portraits by Don McCullin', London, UK
County Hall, 'Cold Heaven. Don McCullin on Aids in Africa', London, UK (Travelling Exhibition)
United Nations Headquarters, 'Cold Heaven. Don McCullin on Aids in Africa', New York NY (Travelling Exhibition)
Maison Européenne de la Photographie, 'Don McCullin, Photographies 1961-2001', Paris, France
Museum Folkwang Essen, 'Don McCullin. Retrospektive', Essen, Germany
Arles Les Rencontres de la Photographie, 'Retrospective, at the Palais de l’Archevêché', Arles, France
Selected Group Exhibitions
National Media Museum, 'Drawn by Light. The Royal Photographic Society Collection', Bradford, UK
C|O Museum, 'Blow-Up, Antonioni Filmklassiker und die Fotografie', Berlin, Germany
Marrakesh Museum for Photography and Visual Arts, 'A selection from the Permanent Collection', Marrakesh, Morocco
La Venaria Reale, 'A Occhi Aperti', Venaria, Italy
Hamiltons Gallery, 'Masterworks. An Exhibition Of Works By Modern Masters Of Photography', London, UK
Brooklyn Museum of Art, 'Images of Armed Conflict And its Aftermath', New York NY
Corcoran Gallery of Art, 'War/Photography. Images of Armed Conflict and its Aftermath', Washington DC (Travelling Exhibition)
Manifesta 9, The European Biennial of Contemporary Art, 'the deep of the modern; a subcyclopaedia', Genk, Belgium
Museo San Telmo, 'Guerra Y Paz: Una Visión Personal', San Sebastián, Spain
Holburne Museum, 'Art of Arrangement', Bath, UK
The Saatchi Gallery, 'The Sunday Times Magazine 50th Anniversary', London, UK
Atlas Gallery, 'Moments of our Time', London, UK
Hamiltons Gallery, 'Gallery Selections', London, UK
Polka Galerie, 'Polka Magazine (#2)', Paris, France
San Francisco Camerawork, 'Killer Shots. A Photographic Response To War', San Francisco CA (Travelling Exhibition)
Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, 'Les choix dCB', Paris, France
Awards and Grants
Doctor Honoris Causa, Bradford University, Bradford, UK
Bibliography
Artist's Publications
McCullin, Don, ‘Unreasonable Behaviour: The Updated Autobiography’, with Lewis Chester, revised edition, Jonathan Cape, London, 2015
Jonathan Cape, London, 2009
McCullin, Don, Don McCullin Supporting the Freedom of the Press, 100 Photographs, Reporters sans frontières, Paris (French/English Edition), 2009
McCullin, Don, ‘Photofile’, Thames & Hudson, London (English edition of Photo Poche), 2007
McCullin, Don, ‘Photo Poche’, Lunwerg, Barcelona, Madrid (Spanish edition of Photo Poche), 2007
McCullin, Don, ‘Risques et perils’, Delpire, Paris (French edition of Don McCullin’s autobiography), 2007
McCullin, Don, ‘Un comportamento irragionevole’, Contrasto, Milano (Italian edtition of autobiography), 2007
French edition: ‘Don McCullin en Afrique, Éditions de La Martinière, Paris, 2005; German edition: ‘Don McCullin in Afrika’, Knesebeck, Munich, 2005
French edition: Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris 2001
McCullin, Don, ‘Don McCullin’ (small-format English edition), Jonathan Cape, London, 2003
McCullin, Don, Shand, Mark, ‘Skulduggery’ (text by Mark Shand); pocket edition, Penguin, London 1994
McCullin, Don, ‘The Palestinians’, (text by Jonathan Dimbleby), Quartet Books, London, 1979
Exhibition Catalogues
Gallery Exhibitions
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