Sir Donald McCullin (born 9 October 1935) is a British photojournalist, particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and impoverished.
Early life
McCullin was born in St Pancras, London,
and grew up in Finsbury Park, but he was evacuated to a farm in
Somerset during
the Blitz.
[ Don McCullin at SundaySalon. Retrieved 22 March 2014] He has mild
dyslexia but displayed a talent for drawing at the secondary modern school he attended. He won a scholarship to Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts
[ but, following the death of his father, he left school at the age of 15, without qualifications, for a catering job on the British Rail.]
Photojournalism
During his National Service, McCullin was posted to the Suez Canal during the 1956 Suez Crisis, and served as a photographer's assistant. He failed the written theory paper to become a photographer in the RAF and spent his service in the darkroom.
In 1958 he took a photograph of a local London gang posing in a bombed-out building. He was persuaded by his colleagues to take his photograph of The Guvnors, as the gang was known, to The Observer, which published it, setting him on his path as a photographer.
He also took the photographs of Maryon Park in London used in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blowup,[Philippe Garner, David Alan Miller, Blow Up (Steidl, 2011).] In 1968 his Nikon F camera stopped a bullet intended for him.
A documentary about McCullin entitled Just One More War, directed by Jana Boková, with ATV as the production company, aired on the ITV network in 1977.
In 1982 the British government refused to grant McCullin a press pass to cover the Falklands War, claiming the boat was full.
He is the author of a number of books, including The Palestinians (with Jonathan Dimbleby, 1980), Beirut: A City in Crisis (1983) and Don McCullin in Africa (2005). His book, Shaped by War (2010) was published to accompany a retrospective exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North, Salford, England in 2010 and then at the Victoria Art Gallery, Bath and the Imperial War Museum, London. His most recent publication is Southern Frontiers: A Journey Across the Roman Empire, a poetic and contemplative study of selected Roman and pre-Roman ruins in North Africa and the Middle East.
In 2012, a documentary film of his life, McCullin, directed by David Morris and Jacqui Morris, was released. It was nominated for two BAFTA awards.
Filmed in February 2018 and broadcast in May, the BBC Four documentary The Road To Palmyra
Despite his reputation as a war photographer, McCullin has said that Alfred Stieglitz was a key influence on his work.
Personal life
Living in Somerset, he is married to travel writer Catherine Fairweather and has five children from his marriages.
Biopic
In November 2020, it was announced Angelina Jolie would be directing a biopic about McCullin, with Tom Hardy in the starring role. It is being adapted from McCullin's biography Unreasonable Behaviour by Gregory Burke.
Publications
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Don McCullin (2010) A Day in the Life of the Beatles. London: Jonathan Cape. . New York: Rizzoli. .
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A day in the life of the Beatles: un giorno speciale con John, Paul, George e Ringo. Milan: Rizzoli. .
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''A day in the life of the Beatles: söndagen den 28 juli 1968. Stockholm: Max Ström. .
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The Landscape. London: Jonathan Cape, 2018. .
Awards
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1964: World Press Photo of the Year, Amsterdam, for his coverage of the Cyprus dispute.
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1964: Photo Stories, third prize stories, World Press Photo award, Amsterdam.
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1964: Warsaw Gold Medal.
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1974: News Picture, first prize stories, World Press Photo award 1973, Amsterdam.
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1977: Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society (HonFRPS).
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1978: Photo Stories, first prize stories, World Press Photo award 1977, Amsterdam.
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1984: Spot News, second prize stories, World Press Photo award 1983, Amsterdam.
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1993: Honorary doctorate from the University of Bradford.
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1993: Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1993 New Year Honours, the first photojournalist to receive the honour.
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1994: Honorary degree from the Open University.
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2003: Royal Photographic Society's Special 150th Anniversary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS) in recognition of a sustained, significant contribution to the art of photography.
[ Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Award Accessed 13 August 2012]
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2006: Cornell Capa Award.
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2007: Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Medal.
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2008: Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Gloucestershire in recognition of his lifetime's achievement in photojournalism.
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2009: Honorary Fellowship of Hereford College of Arts.
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2011: Honorary Degree (Doctor of Arts) from the University of Bath.
[" Honorary graduates ", University of Bath. Accessed 14 January 2012. (A list of honorary graduates of 2011.)]
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2016: Lucie Awards in Achievement in Photojournalism category
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2017: Appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to photography.
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2017: Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) from the University of Exeter.
Exhibitions
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2010–2012: Shaped by War: Photographs by Don McCullin, Imperial War Museum North, Salford, UK, 2010;
[" Shaped by War: Photographs by Don McCullin: 7 October 2011 – 15 April 2012" Imperial War Museum. Accessed 2 May 2018.] A retrospective with Photographs, contact sheets, objects, magazines and personal memorabilia.
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2013: Retrospective, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada.
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2019: Retrospective, Tate Britain, London, UK
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2020-2021: Retrospective, Tate Liverpool (Exhibition extended to September 2021 as a result of COVID-19 related closures earlier in the year), Liverpool, UK
Collections
McCullin's work is held in the following permanent collection:
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Tate, UK: 85 prints as of May 2018
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Victoria and Albert Museum, London: 11 prints
[" Search the Collections". Victoria and Albert Museum. Accessed 15 September 2017]
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National Portrait Gallery, London: 18 prints
[" Search the Collection". National Portrait Gallery, London. Accessed 25 October 2022]
Quotes
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"I grew up in total ignorance, poverty and bigotry, and this has been a burden for me throughout my life. There is still some poison that won't go away, as much as I try to drive it out."
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"I am a professed atheist, until I find myself in serious circumstances. Then I quickly fall on my knees, in my mind if not literally, and I say : 'Please God, save me from this.'"
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"I have been manipulated, and I have in turn manipulated others, by recording their response to suffering and misery. So there is guilt in every direction: guilt because I don't practise religion, guilt because I was able to walk away, while this man was dying of starvation or being murdered by another man with a gun. And I am tired of guilt, tired of saying to myself: "I didn't kill that man on that photograph, I didn't starve that child." That's why I want to photograph landscapes and flowers. I am sentencing myself to peace."
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"Photography for me is not looking, it's feeling. If you can't feel what you're looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures."
External links
