Tom Greenwood Cleaning

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Downing Street

In this photograph, Tom Greenwood, as named in the work’s title, perches precariously on a ladder while cleaning the window above a door. The image, taken in Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire, was part of a number of black and white photographs of the north of England that Martin Parr captured in the mid-1970s. For the artist, photography was primarily an exploration of overlooked worlds and obscure practices. His approach to these early photographs was part documentary in that Parr often chose, in his own words, to put his subjects ‘under the microscope’ in their own environment, leading them to disclose details about their lives and habits.

Places

England, Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire

Subjects

ladder, genre, man, 20th century costume, cleaning, pavement, door, window

Materials & Techniques

photograph (as object name), black & white photograph

Artist

Martin Parr (1952 - )

Title

Tom Greenwood Cleaning

Date

1976

Medium

Black and white photograph

Acquisition

Purchased from the Photographers' Gallery, February 1977

GAC number

13221