Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/marc-atkins-18074" aria-label="More by Marc Atkins" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Marc Atkins</a>
Dogs Alcibiades Victoria Park
Gift Eric and Louise Franck London Collection 2015
<p>This group of works by Marc Atkins comprises ten black and white photographs, together with nine smaller photographs which are mounted together in a grid to form an eleventh work. They are drawn from a group of a hundred and eighty photographs by Atkins which were published in the book <span>Liquid City</span> (1999), an examination of London on which Atkins collaborated with writer Iain Sinclair. Sinclair is known for his dense psycho-geographical explorations of the capital, and the pair had collaborated previously on the book <span>Lights Out for the Territory</span> (1997). Atkins’s atmospheric photographs capture the cemeteries, canals, parks and public houses of London’s east and south-east neighbourhoods.</p>
paper print photograph gelatin silver
The Dogs of Alcibiades, Victoria Park
image: 225 × 326 mm
Gift Eric and Louise Franck London Collection 2015
<div class="text">
<p>This group of works by Marc Atkins comprises ten black and white photographs, together with nine smaller photographs which are mounted together in a grid to form an eleventh work. They are drawn from a group of a hundred and eighty photographs by Atkins which were published in the book <i>Liquid City</i> (1999), an examination of London on which Atkins collaborated with writer Iain Sinclair. Sinclair is known for his dense psycho-geographical explorations of the capital, and the pair had collaborated previously on the book <i>Lights Out for the Territory</i> (1997). Atkins’s atmospheric photographs capture the cemeteries, canals, parks and public houses of London’s east and south-east neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>
<i>Gilbert and George</i> 1996 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-gilbert-and-george-p14679" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14679</span></a>) is made up of nine smaller photographs mounted in a three by three grid onto board. Each image depicts the artist duo Gilbert and George as they wander about the east end of London, the area in which they have lived for many years.</p>
<p>Cemeteries feature prominently in Atkins’s work. <i>St Pancras Gravestones</i> 1998 shows a dense cluster of headstones crowding around the base of a tree trunk, while <i>Chingford Mound</i> 1996 and <i>Cell Angel</i> 1997 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-chingford-mound-p14685" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14685</span></a> and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-cell-angel-p14686" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14686</span></a>) focus on decapitated figurative sculptures that are now overtaken by weeds and foliage, thus creating an affecting image of abandonment. A train hurtling past a large Catholic cemetery is depicted in <i>St Patrick’s, Leyton</i> 1997 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-st-patricks-leyton-p14688" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14688</span></a>).</p>
<p>Views of the river Thames recur throughout Atkins’s images. Both <i>Down River</i> 1995 and <i>Bull and Tower Bridge</i> 1996 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-down-river-p14680" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14680</span></a> and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-bull-and-tower-bridge-p14684" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14684</span></a>) show Tower Bridge in the distance. Another section of the Thames is shown in <i>Houses of Parliament</i> 1997 (<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-houses-of-parliament-p14682" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14682</span></a>), as the river flows past the Palace of Westminster with its famous clock tower. <i>View West from St Anne’s Limehouse</i> 1997 (<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-view-west-from-st-annes-limehouse-p14683" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14683</span></a>) is taken from high up in the Hawksmoor Anglican church, looking towards Limehouse Basin which flows into the Thames.</p>
<p>
<i>Tenter Ground</i> 1997 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-tenter-ground-p14687" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14687</span></a>) depicts the gable end of what remained at the time of the Tenter Ground estate that was built at the start of the nineteenth century in the east end of London. <i>The Dogs of Alcibiades, Victoria Park</i> 1996 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/atkins-the-dogs-of-alcibiades-victoria-park-p14930" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14930</span></a>) depicts the entrances gates into Victoria Park in Hackney. The gates are flanked by two sculptures of a dog, rumoured to have rescued a child in the park’s lake.</p>
<p>Atkins attended Staffordshire College of Art, later studying for a sculpture degree at Cheltenham School of Art. He was subsequently awarded an MA by the Jan Eyck Academie where he studied performance, video, film and photography.</p>
<p>
<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Marc Atkins and Iain Sinclair,<i> Liquid City</i>, London 1999.</p>
<p>Helen Delaney<br/>November 2014 </p>
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Summary
2024-01-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT