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For Matthew

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RRB Photobooks, 2019 All photographs and text © Markéta Luskacová All rights reserved Production by Tom Groves Match prints by Louis Little Design by Dan Mogford Printed at Narayana Press, Denmark ISBN 9781916057517 rrbphotobooks.com

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Markéta Luskacová By the Sea Photographs from the North East, 1976-1980

RRB PHOTOBOOKS BRISTOL

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I was born in Prague, in a country with no sea. I was seventeen when I saw the sea for the first time. It was from the window of a night train from Prague to Varna in Bulgaria, where my aunt Lidka lived. I was asleep when there was a sudden commotion in the carriage. People were shouting: ‘the sea, the sea!’ I looked from the window: it was dawn, and everything I saw was blue, there was no horizon, no line between the sea and the sky, just blue. It was the southern sea and the vastness of the blue was overwhelming. I was thirty-two when I saw the northern sea for the first time. It was at Whitley Bay near Newcastle. The sea was grey, breathtakingly grey, as was the sky. But what was overwhelming for me were the people at the beach, dressed in their Sunday best. In spite of harsh weather, the wind and the rain, they were enjoying their day out and making the best of it for themselves and their children. I was very touched by it all: the families with children, old women in their best hats, elderly couples with grandchildren, teenagers courting shyly or boisterously, the ponies and donkeys walking patiently to and fro on the beach. The dogs and children were everywhere, dogs enjoying themselves as much as the children did. The fairground and the omnipresent tents, fortresses against the wind and rain, the seaside cafes selling sandwiches, apple pies, custard pies, ice creams and teas, of course. But they also sold boiling water to women who brought with them from their homes their teapots and teabags, because to buy teas for the whole family would be too expensive. I first photographed the North East seaside in the summer of 1976 and 1977 while visiting Chris Killip who was living and working in the area at that time. So when Amber, a film and photography collective, invited me in the summer of 1978 (along with Martine Franck, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Paul Caponigro) to photograph in the North East of England, I already knew the seaside well. Amber gave us the freedom to choose our subjects, and it was clear that I would be photographing the seaside. I loved it.

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By then I had a one-year-old son, Matthew, and I would have to take him with me wherever I was going to be working. I imagined that on the beaches I could cope with that twin task. After all, I’d already photographed street musicians while pushing a pram through the streets of London. What I did not imagine was that the wheels of a pushchair do not turn in wet sand. But when I let Matthew out of the pushchair, he crawled to the nearest women and children sitting on the sand and in no time he became a part of their group. I watched for a while, then talked to the women and explained my situation. They happily agreed to look after Matthew. From then on, every morning I let my son out of the pushchair with the wheels that would not turn and he would crawl to the nearest family with children. Not even once did the local women refuse to look after my son. I felt it was good for him – at the age of one he learned that all people were friends. And I became one of the women with children on the beach, not a voyeur, not a foreigner. Adversity turned into its opposite. Every day while packing the pushchair, nappies, food, baby bottles and camera bag I remembered the peasant women in the mountain village of Sumiac, in Slovakia, where I had photographed a few years earlier. The women there had taken their babies with them while working in the fields. I thought if they managed, I would too. Now, when thinking about that summer at the North East seaside, more than forty years ago, I think if I managed to photograph, it was thanks to the generosity of the local women and children who helped me selflessly to look after Matthew. I am very grateful to them all.

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CURRICULUM VITAE Markéta Luskačová EDUCATION 1944 Born in Prague 1958-61 ‘A’ Levels in Czech, Russian, Mathematics, History in Chrudim, Prague 1961-67 Degree in Sociology of Culture, Charles University, Prague 1966-69 Postgraduate course in photography, FAMU, Prague WORK 1968 1964-1972 1967-1974 1968 1970-72 1972-73,1985 1972-2018 1976-80 1976-77 1975-1990 1976-80 1977 1980 1983-84 1986-2000 2000 1998-2018 1998-2018

1985 1986 1989 1989 1991 1991 1991

Became a freelance photographer, photographing:

1992

Pilgrims in Slovakia Series from Šumiac, a mountain village in Slovakia Jazz Club Reduta, Prague Divadlo za branou (Theatre Beyond the Gate), Prague In Ireland Spitalfields in East London Nominee Photographer with Magnum Photos, Paris Photographing for Magnum distribution Chiswick Women’s Aid in London London Street Musicians Photographing by the North East England seaside Son Matthew Emanuel was born Girls’ Jazz Bands in North East England Oxford Sculpture Project for MoMA, Oxford Citizen 2000, Channel 4 programme documenting the life of 20 children in Britain Durham Cathedral & Chorister School, Britain Photographing children in the Czech Republic Photographing carnivals in the Czech Republic, especially those of the Roztoč group, Roztoky

1994 1994 1994 1995 1996 1998

SELECTED ONE-WOMAN SHOWS 1971 Divadlo za branou (Theatre Beyond the Gate), Prague, CZ 1978 Side Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne (+ Sirkka L. Kontinnen), GB 1983-84 Victoria and Albert Museum, London, GB (Catalogue: Pilgrims)

1999 1999 2000 2001 2001 2001 2001 2004 2011 2011 2013 2014 2014 2015 2016 2016 2017 2017 2018 2018-19 2019

Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, GB Ksiaz, PL Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London, GB Galeria Visor, Valencia, ES Whitechapel Gallery, London, GB (Catalogue: Photographs from Spitalfields) Nottingham Castle, Nottingham, GB Dům U Kamenného zvonu, GHMP, Prague, CZ Municipal House in Murcia, then Madrid, Salamanca, Jerez, Palma de Mallorca, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, ES Staroměstská radnice, Prague, CZ Stills Gallery, Sydney, AU Divadlo Karla Pippicha, Chrudim, CZ Východočeská galerie, Pardubice, CZ Galerie 4, Cheb, CZ Stills Gallery, Sydney, AU (Catalogue: Unknown Remembered) Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, GB EIi Lemberger Museum of Photography, Tel Hai, Galilee, IL Pražský dům fotografie, Prague, CZ Dom fotografie, Poprad, SK The British Council, Prague, CZ Galerie Fait et Cause, Paris, FR Focus Gallery, London, GB Muzeum, Soběslav, CZ Středočeské muzeum v Roztokách, CZ (Catalogue: On Death, Horses and Other People) Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, Ml, USA Piper Gallery (+ Francis West), London, GB National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, Cedar Rapids, lA, USA Leica Gallery, Prague, CZ (catalogue: Photographs 1964-2014) Galeria 19, Bratislava, SK Latitude, Huelva, ES Musée International du Carnaval et du Masque, Binche, BE Czech Centre, Paris, FR Palacio de Pimentel, Valladolid, ES (Catalogue Primero y Ultimo, text by S. Skoda) Czech Centre, Munich, DE Tate Britain, London, GB Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, GB (Publication: By The Sea) 113

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SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1969 Fotografické cykly a seriály, Obecní dům, Prague, CZ 1972 Tři fotografové, Galerie umění Roudnice nad Labem (+ Ivo Gil, Pavel Štecha), CZ 1975 Women of Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA, US 1983 Personal Choice: A Celebration of Twentieth-Century Photographs, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, GB 1989 Through the Looking Glass, Barbican, London, GB 1990 Spišské muzeum (+ Peter Župník, Janusz Moniatowicz), Levoča, SK 1993 An Historical Survey, Museum of Modern Art. New York, NY, US 1995 Luz y Tiempo, Centro Cultural del Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, MX 1995 Der geduldige Planet, Zürich, CH 2000 Photography and Time, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, GB 2002 Česká a slovenská fotografia 80. a 90. rokov 20. Storočia, Dom umenia, Bratislava, SK 2003 Les Choix d’Henri Cartier-Bresson, Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, FR 2006 Closed Eyes, Brandts Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, DK 2008 Fotogenie identity, Paměť české fotografie, Pražský dům fotografle, Prague, CZ 2010-11 Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA 2012 Another London, Tate Britain, London, GB 2014 “Grey Gold”, House of Art, Brno, Cz 2014 Witches and Wicked Bodies, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, GB 2016 Feminine!, Artinbox, Prague, CZ 2016-17 In Your Dream You Saw a Way to Survive and You Were Filled with Joy, touring show, Hayward Gallery, London, GB 2017-18 Collected Shadows, touring show, Hayward Gallery, London, GB 2018 Another Europe, Austrian Cultural Centre, London, GB 2018-19 Modern Nature, Hepworth Museum, Wakefield, GB 2019 Distinctly, Williamson Gallery, Merseyside, GB 2019 Seaside Photographed, Turner Contemporary, Margate GB

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WORKS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Archive of Modern Conflict, London, GB The Collection of the Arts Council of Great Britain, London, GB Art Gallery, Benešov, CZ Arthur Andersen, London, GB Bibliotheque nationale de France, Paris, FR Brandts Museum for Fotokunst, DK Bruce Bernard Collection, GB Clifford Chance, London, GB Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA Eric Franck Fine Art Collection, London, GB Foundation Cultural, Mexico City, MX FRAC Rhone-Alpes, FR George Eastman Museum Collection, Rochester, NY, USA IVAM, Valencia, ES Israel Museum, Jerusalem, IL James Hyman Collection, London, GB J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA Martin Parr Foundation, Bristol, GB Michigan State University Museum, East Lansing, US Moravská Galerie, Brno, CZ Museum of Art, Ein Harod, IL Musée International du Carnaval et du Masque, Binche, BE Museum of Modern Art New York, NY,USA National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, AU National Media Museum, Bradford, GB National Portrait Gallery, London, GB Royal Festival Hall, London, GB Royal Institute of British Architects, London, GB Salamanca University, Salamanca, ES San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA Side Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, GB Slovenská národná qaléria, Bratislava, SK Spišské múzeum, Levoča , SK Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, NL Tate Britain, London, GB The British Council, Valencia, ES The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA Uměleckoprůmyslové museum, Prague, CZ University of Newcastle, AU Victoria and Albert Museum, London, GB Wilson Centre for Photography, London, GB

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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND ARTICLES Camera, Luzern, 8/1969, text by; Anna Fárová Fotografie, Prague, 9/1969, text by; Karel Dvorak Pilgrims, Theater Beyond the Gate, Prague 1971, catalogue text by; Josef Topol Creative Camera, London, 10/1971 Camera, Luzern, 4/1974, text by; Allan Porter DU Magazine, Zurich, 12/1974, The British Image II, London, 1976 Camera Mainichi, Tokyo, 12/1976 Aperture 91, New York, 1983, text by; Mark HaworthBooth Creative Camera, London, Photographs from Ireland, 11/1983 Pilgrims, V&A Museum, London, 1983/1984, the exhibition catalogue, text by; Mark Haworth-Booth Pilgrimage of Faith, New Society, London, 16/2/1984, text by; Peter Fuller Pilgrims, The Arts Council, London, 1985, catalogue of touring exhibition, text by; John Berger, Joanna Drew Creative Camera, the whole issue, London, 1/1987, text by; Tom Evans Photographs from Spitalfields, The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 1991, exhibition catalogue texts by; Mark Holborn, Chris Killip, David Widgery Independent Magazine, London, 3/1991, text by; Bruce Bernard

Poutnici, GHMP, House at Stone Bell, Prague, 1991, text in catalogue by; Marie Judlova, Jitka Hauptvogelova Creative Camera, London 10-11/1991, text by Gerry Badger Unknown Remembered (Photographs of Children 19681998), Stills Gallery, Sydney, 1998, text by; Colin Osman Markéta Luskačová – Monograph, Torst, Prague 2001, text by; Gerry Badger, Marie KlimeŠová Moravian Gallery, Brno, 2000, catalogue text by; Antonín Dufek B+W Photography, USA, 2009, text by; Dan Brierly On Death and Horses and Other People, Středočeské Museum Roztoky near Prague, 2011, catalogue text by; Howard Bossen, Robert Silverio Come Carnival: Entwined and in Play, Markéta Luskačová and Francis West, Piper Gallery, London, 2013, catalogue text by; Elizabeth Perrotte Markéta Luskačová (Photographs1964-2014), Leica Gallery, Prague, 2014, text by; Markéta Luskačová, Irena Murray To Remember (London Street Musicians 1975-1990), 2016, text by; John Berger, Howard Bossen, Markéta Luskačová Markéta Luskačová, Primero y Ultimo, Palacio Pimentel, Valladolid, 2017, catalogue text by; Stanislav Škoda Tenderness of True, Black + White Photography, London, 7/2017, text by; Alex Snydeman Financial Times Weekend 17/11, 2018, text by; Rachel Spence

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LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS Redcar, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Cullercoat, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1979 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1980 South Shields,1978 Whitley Bay, 1979 Skinningrove, 1976 South Shields,1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 South Shields, 1978 Redcar, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1979 Whitley Bay, 1979 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1980 South Shields, 1978 Skinningrove, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1980 Whitley Bay, 1977 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978

Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1976 Whitley Bay, 1976 Whitley Bay, 1976 Whitley Bay, 1976 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1979 Whitley Bay, 1979 Whitley Bay, 1979 Whitley Bay, 1979 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1976 Whitley Bay, 1979 Whitley Bay, 1976 North Shields, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1979 South Shields, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1979 North Shields, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1980 Whitley Bay, 1976 Whitley Bay, 1976 Whitley Bay, 1980 Whitley Bay, 1978 Matthew at Whitley Bay, 1978 Matthew at Tynemouth, 1978 Matthew at Whitley Bay, 1978 Whitley Bay, 1979

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My thanks go to all the women and children at the seaside in the North East for their help and kindness towards me and my son all those years ago, and to all my friends who helped me with this book, particularly: Hassan Amini, Gerry Badger, Mark Haworth-Booth, Howard Bossen, Neil Burgess, Bridget Cass, Marie Cognacq, Ian Chilvers, Mike Dibb, Andrew Dempsey, Augusta Edwards, Gareth Evans, Eric Franck, gentle author, Ken Grant, Tom Groves, Kerstin Hacker, Sean Henry, Milena Kalinovska, Chris Killip, Matthew Killip, Mary Kuper, Louis Little, Peter MacMahon, Tom Overton, Martin Parr, Nick Serota, Marie and Karel Škopek, Jenni Smith, Rudi Thoemmes, Dagmar Urbanková, R.Václavícěk, Fran and Vin Yorke and to Martine Franck for the picture in the introduction of Matthew and me, in the North East in 1978.

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