The English Cathedral, the ambitious photographic project documenting all 42 of England’s Anglican cathedrals by the late Magnum photographer Peter Marlow (b. UK, 1952 - 2016), will come to Rochester Cathedral in March 2023, continuing the aim to exhibit at all of the 42 cathedrals featured in the awe inspiring photographic series. These remarkable photographs bring into sharp relief the full splendour of the interiors of some of England’s most magnificent buildings,great symbols of spiritual and architectural power, using only natural light to capture the interiors of these iconic buildings.
Peter Marlow photographing st edmundsbury cathedral, suffolk, by peter’s assistant marcio suster, 2012 © Peter Marlow foundation_Magnum Photos
Organised by the Peter Marlow Foundation, the charity set up in recognition of Peter and his work and legacy, the plan is that this ethereal collection of images, will exhibit at each of the individual 42 cathedrals Peter visited on his photographic pilgrimage across England.
Peter Marlow: The English Cathedral has previously been hosted by Coventry Cathedral in 2016; Ely Cathedral in 2017; Portsmouth and Blackburn in 2019; Carlisle, Winchester, Ripon, Southwell, Bradford, St Albans, and St Paul’s in 2022; and Hereford, Newcastle, St Edmundsbury and Wakefield in 2023. Many more of the cathedrals featured in the series are lined up for the years to come.
About the Project
In 2008 Marlow was commissioned by Royal Mail on the 300th year anniversary of the completion of St Paul’s Cathedral to photograph six Anglican Cathedrals that were issued as commemorative stamps. So taken was Peter by these initial magnificent interiors that he set out to photograph all 42, guided over the next three years by a copy of English Cathedrals (1989) by Edwin Smith and Olive Cook and a pack of ‘Anglican Cathedrals of England’ Top Trumps Cards.
‘What I thought was going to be incredibly simple became intricate, complicated and utterly absorbing. The journey was memorable and wonderfully hypnotic, a kind of reflective pilgrimage. My cathedral days involved hours of driving and thinking, with my reference Polaroids drying in the sun on the dashboard. England passed by.’ Peter Marlow ‘The English Cathedral’
After much experimentation, Peter developed the perfect strategy to document these huge interior spaces and to highlight the many varied architectural nuances between the buildings. Shooting on large format film using only natural light, Peter set up in the same position at allbut one of the cathedrals - looking east towards the nave and altar as the dawn light streamed through the main window. By ensuring all artificial lighting was turned off, a rarity in many of these buildings whose lights remain on constantly, Peter captured the cathedrals emerging from the darkness as if suspended in time and removed from the modern age. This end result can be regarded as a contemporary update to the long tradition of church photography in England, namely Frederik Evans’ late 19th century imagery and Edwin Smith’s mid 20th century work.
‘When immersed in Peter’s photographs we are metaphorically in some kind of contemplative enclosure, if not a sanctuary: one that confronts us with our own sense of being. The forms captured here are simultaneously concrete and abstract: containers of history, light and, above all, space. Despite of, and in parallel with, the undeniable structure of the architectural edifice, Marlow captures the intangible essence of all form that is generated by creative force: the enduring mystery of space within space.’ Martin Barnes ‘The English Cathedral’
A sold out monograph of Peter Marlow’s ‘The English Cathedral’ was published by Merrell in 2012 with a second edition in 2015. Featuring texts by Martin Barnes, Senior Curator of Photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) London, and John Goodall, architectural editor of Country Life magazine, it also includes Marlow’s own account of his ‘cathedral days’ as well as his technical commentary of how he achieved these intensely detailed images. A full set of the prints are held in the V&A’s permanent collection.
Images from Bury St Edmunds, Hereford and Lincoln Cathedrals © Peter Marlow Foundation_Magnum Photos
About Peter Marlow
Peter Marlow (1952 - 2016) was an eminent, internationally recognised photographer, a two-time President of the international photography cooperative, Magnum Photos of which he was a member since 1980. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal
Photographic Society in 2006 and his work is held in 12 public collections worldwide. His work as a photographer spanned 41 years and 84 countries, capturing major world events for prestigious magazines and newspapers and his personal long form projects. His archive includes work of international interest as well as shining a light on Britain.
Exhibitions include Point of Interest; London at Night; and The English Cathedral at The Wapping Project Bankside; Magnum Contact Sheets (Magnum Agency London, and touring);and No Such Thing as Society - Photography in Britain 1967-1987 from the British Council and Arts Council Collection, at Hayward Gallery which toured to Centre Pompidou, Paris, amongst other international venues. His work is in numerous collections including the Arts Council England; Victoria and Albert Museum; Qatar Museums; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Harry Ransom Center,Texas; Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; Library of Birmingham; and the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum.
About Peter Marlow Foundation
The Peter Marlow Foundation encourages, examines and celebrates the photography of humanity, its impact and legacy. From 2024 it will do this from a gallery based in Dungeness, Kent, housing an extensive archive and library of photography books, public exhibitions, a residency programme and cultural programme open to schools, the public and professionals.
In his lifetime Peter Marlow worked all over the world and his ever thoughtful photographs deal with close observation of the physical and personal landscape that is often overlooked. His lens was always on the human and social. The Foundation will continue in this spirit, providing a focus on social realism and people, both in the work it shares and in the activity it generates.
