Chris Killip
photographer
Christopher David Killip (1946–2020) was a renowned Manx photographer known for his evocative black and white images of people and places in the United Kingdom. He began his career as an assistant to advertising photographer Adrian Flowers in London before going freelance in 1969. In 1975, he received a fellowship from Northern Arts to photograph the northeast of England, leading to his seminal work 'In Flagrante' (1988), which documented the industrial decline and working-class communities of Tyneside during the 1970s and 1980s. Killip was a professor of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University from 1991 to 2017. His work has been held in major collections including the Tate, MoMA, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.[1,2,4,5,6,7,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37]
Themes
- industrial decline
- working-class communities
- Tyneside
- documentary photography
Books
Works by Chris Killip
- In Flagrante 1988 · Secker & Warburg · book · English ISBN 0-436-23358-4 First published in 1988; includes text by John Berger and Sylvia Grant.
- Isle of Man: A Book about the Manx 1980 · Arts Council of Great Britain · book ISBN 0-7287-0187-1 With text by Killip and John Berger.
- Chris Killip 55 2001 · Phaidon Press · book ISBN 0-7148-4028-9 Text by Gerry Badger.
- Pirelli Work 2007 · Steidl · book ISBN 978-3-86930-961-3 Photographs of a tyre factory in Burton.
- Here Comes Everybody: Chris Killip's Irish Photographs 2009 · Thames & Hudson · book ISBN 978-0-500-54365-8 Photographs of pilgrimages and rural scenes in Ireland.
- Seacoal 2011 · Steidl · book ISBN 3-86930-256-9
- Arbeit / Work 2012 · Museum Folkwang; Steidl · book ISBN 978-3-86930-457-1 A retrospective. Texts by Killip, David Campany and Ute Eskildsen.
- Isle of Man Revisited 2015 · Steidl · book ISBN 978-3-86930-959-0 Second edition of Isle of Man: A Book about the Manx.
- In Flagrante Two 2016 · Steidl · book ISBN 978-3-86930-960-6 Second edition of the photographs from In Flagrante.
- The Station 2020 · Steidl · book ISBN 978-3-95829-616-9
- Chris Killip 2022 · Thames & Hudson · book ISBN 978-0500025581 A retrospective.
- Skinningrove 2024 · Stanley/Barker · book
Exhibitions
- Two Views, Two Cities. Huddersfield and Bury St Edmunds solo
- 1984 Seacoal Side Gallery, Newcastle solo
- 1985 Another Country Serpentine Gallery, London solo
- 1988 In Flagrante Victoria and Albert Museum, London solo
- 1990 Working at Pirelli Victoria and Albert Museum, London solo
- 1991 Chris Killip Retrospective Palais de Tokyo, Paris solo
- 1996 The Last Art Show Jarrow Bede Gallery, Jarrow solo
- 1997 Chris Killip Photographs 1971–96 Manx Museum, Douglas solo
- 2000 Chris Killip: Sixty Photographs Old Post Office, Berlin solo
- 2012 Arbeit/Work Museum Folkwang, Essen solo
- 2012 What Happened / Great Britain 1970–1990 Le Bal, Paris solo
- 2017 Now Then: Chris Killip and the making of In Flagrante J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles solo
- 2020 The Last Ships Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle on Tyne solo
- 1989 The Art of Photography, 1839–1989 Royal Academy, London group
- 2006 In the Face of History: European Photographers in the 20th Century Barbican Arts Centre, London group
- 2008 No Such Thing as Society: Photography in Britain 1968–1987 Hayward Gallery; Ujazdów Castle; Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery; Aberystwyth Arts Centre, London; Warsaw; Carlisle; Aberystwyth group
- 2010 Facts of Life / British Documentary Photography National Museum, Kraków group
Awards
- 1989 Henri Cartier-Bresson Award Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation
- 2013 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (Shortlisted) Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation
- 2020 Dr. Erich Salomon Award German Society for Photography
References
- Sean O'Hagan. Chris Killip obituary. The Guardian. 2020 link
- Sean O'Hagan. Chris Killip, hard-hitting photographer of Britain's working class, dies aged 74. The Guardian. 2020 link
- Justin Carville. Chris Killip. Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Photography. Routledge. 2006
- Tom Seymour. British photographer Chris Killip remembered after battle with cancer. The Art Newspaper. 2020 link
- Chris Killip: 'Remarkable' photographer dies aged 74. BBC News. 2020 link
- Martin Parr; Gerry Badger. The Photobook: A History. Phaidon. 2006
- Clive Dilnot. Chris Killip's Portraits of the Pirelli Workforce. Pirelli Work
- Robert Ayers. One of the greatest photography books ever published – Chris Killip's In Flagrante. askyfilledwithshootingstars.com. 2009 link
- Chris Killip. What Happened. Pirelli Work
- Liz Jobey. Photographer Chris Killip: return to a ritual landscape. The Guardian. 2009 link
- Sean O'Hagan. Moshpit mayhem: The northern club where punks rampaged to Hellbastard. The Guardian. 2020 link
- Ayla Angelos. An exclusive chat with photographer Chris Killip and his son. It's Nice That. 2020 link
- Ayla Angelos. Markéta Luskačová's Chiswick Women's Aid 1976–77 is finally brought to light after 44 years. It's Nice That. 2020 link
- Chris Killip 55. Phaidon Press. 2001
- Mark Haworth-Booth. Chris Killip: Recognition for a great photographer. The Guardian. 2020 link
- What Happened / Great Britain 1970–1990. Le Bal. 2012 link
- Now Then: Chris Killip and the Making of In Flagrante. J. Paul Getty Museum. 2017 link
- Diane Smyth. Now Then: Chris Killip and the Making of In Flagrante. British Journal of Photography. 2017 link
- Carolina A. Miranda. Seven photos, seven stories: Chris Killip on capturing the declining industrial towns of England in the '70s and '80s. Los Angeles Times. 2017 link
- Chris Killip: The Last Ships. Laing Art Gallery. 2020 link
- The Station by Chris Killip. Martin Parr Foundation. 2020 link
- Kate Bush; Mark Sladen. In the Face of History: European Photographers in the 20th Century. Black Dog. 2006
- David Alan Mellor. No such thing as society: Photography in Britain 1967–87. Hayward. 2007
- Simon Bainbridge. Brits Abroad. British Journal of Photography. 2010 link
- Chris Killip's photos capture the freedom of punk in 80s north east England. Dazed. 2020 link
- Chris Killip's 1980s photographs of the fishing village of Skinningrove. The Times. 2024 link
- Kalum Carter. 'Skinningrove' is the last publication Chris Killip worked on – and it features some of his finest photography. digitalcameraworld. 2024 link
- Chris Killip. Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation. 1989 link
- Sean O'Hagan. Deutsche Börse 2013 – a shortlist that's short of photographers. The Guardian. 2012 link
- Photographer Chris Killip given an international honour. Isle of Man Today. 2020 link
- Photographer Chris Killip is being honoured with the Dr. Erich Salomon Award. DGPh. 2020 link
- The Station. Steidl. 2020 link
- Chris Killip's photos capture the freedom of punk in 80s north east England. Dazed. 2020 link
- Chris Killip's 1980s photographs of the fishing village of Skinningrove. The Times. 2024 link
- Kalum Carter. 'Skinningrove' is the last publication Chris Killip worked on – and it features some of his finest photography. digitalcameraworld. 2024 link
- Chris Killip. Thames & Hudson. 2022
- Your Search Results. Victoria and Albert Museum link


