Don McCullin, Protester Cuban Missile crisis, Whitehall, London, 1962

Tate Britain presents a comprehensive retrospective of the legendary British photographer Don McCullin.

This exhibition showcases some of the most impactful photographs captured over the last 60 years. It includes many of his iconic war photographs – including images from Vietnam, Northern Ireland and more recently Syria. But it also focuses on the work he did at home in England, recording scenes of poverty and working class life in London’s East End and the industrial north, as well as meditative landscapes of his beloved Somerset, where he lives.​

Don McCullin, Cyprus, 1964

Don McCullin Shell-shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue, 1968 / The Battle for the City of Hue South Vietnam, US Marine Inside Civilian House, 1968

Don McCullin, Local Boys in Bradford, 1972

Don McCullin, West Berliner looking over a portion of the Berlin Wall at the time of it’s construction. East German soldier looks back, West Berlin, Germany, August 1961

Sir Don McCullin was born in 1935 and grew up in a deprived area of north London. He got his first break when a newspaper published his photograph of friends who were in a local gang. From the 1960s he forged a career as probably the UK’s foremost war photographer, primarily working for the Sunday Times Magazine. His unforgettable and sometimes harrowing images are accompanied in the show with his brutally honest commentaries.

Don McCullin, A Lebanese family leaving the Martyrs Cemetary, Beirut, 1976

Don McCullin, Consett, County Durham, 1974 / Homeless Irishman, 1970

Don McCullin, Hessel Street Jewish District, East End, London, 1962

Don McCullin, Grenade Thrower, Hue Vietnam, 1968

Don McCullin, People of the Karo tribe, 2004

Don McCullin, Seaside pier on the south coast, Eastbourne, UK, 1970s

Don McCullin, Strange travellers – a destitute Tibetan family in the booking hall of a railway station at dawn, Delhi, 1965 / The Guvnors in their Sunday Suits, Finsbury Park, London, 1968

Don McCullin, Woods Near My House, 1991

With over 250 photographs, all printed by McCullin himself in his own darkroom, this exhibition will be a unique opportunity to appreciate the scope and achievements of his entire career.

Don McCullin Retrospective
February 5 – May 6, 2019 / Tate Britain
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