Peter Marlow: The English Cathedral

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The world renowned St Paul’s Cathedral, London, UK will host the next stage of an ambitious exhibition tour by the late Magnum photographer, Peter Marlow. On show from 6 December 2022 - 26 January 2023, ‘The English Cathedral’ is an exceptional photographic project chronicling all 42 of England’s Anglican cathedrals undertaken by Peter who travelled across England documenting the interiors of these iconic architectural landmarks. Organised by the Peter Marlow Foundation, the charity set up to continue Peter’s legacy, the aim is that this ethereal collection of images will exhibit at each of the 42 cathedrals he visited on his photographic pilgrimage across England.

The display at St Paul’s Cathedral represents a key point in the tour’s expansive journey across England as it is here that Peter (b. UK, 1952 - 2016) was commissioned in 2008 by Royal Mail to create six commemorative stamps of cathedrals from the UK to mark the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the completion of the treasured cathedral. So taken was he by these initial magnificent interiors that

he set out to photograph all 42 English Anglican cathedrals, 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.

Peter’s photographic portrait of St Paul’s Cathedral, the penultimate to be taken in the series, was taken in October 2011 , the year that the Cathedral finished a major 15 year restoration. After negotiations with St Paul’s, Peter was granted rare access to the building at dawn, empty of the usual crowds tourists and worshippers and devoid of modern lighting, so that he could capture it as it would have been almost 300 years previously. Declared complete in 1710, St Paul’s is the first cathedral to be designed

by and completed by a single architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The series of photographs of all 42 cathedrals will be displayed in the South Aisle and entry to it is included in the general admission ticket.

The Dean of St Paul’s, the Very Revd Andrew Tremlett says, “Peter Marlow captures the unique architecture, art and character of all 42 Anglican cathedrals in England, and we are delighted to
host this important exhibition. His photograph of St Paul’s depicts the building a few months after significant repairs and restoration in 2011 allowing the gleaming Portland stone to shine as brightly as in Christopher Wren’s day.”

The images appear deceptively simple in their composition and technical set-up. It was after much experimentation that 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, he set up in the same position at all but 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, he 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.

“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 instant photographs drying in the sun on the dashboard. England passed by.” Peter Marlow ‘The English Cathedral’.

Peter’s 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

“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, Peter 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 Peter’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.