Boring Postcards is anything but!

Boring Postcards by Martin Parr

This was a book I rescued from a local charity shop for just £1 and fell in love with instantly.

Martin Parr is, I discover,  an amazing photographer in his own right, specialising in capturing everyday life. In Boring Postcards, he has turned editor, selecting a bunch of vintage postcards that celebrate the ordinary. Presented in their original size, beautifully printed onto heavyweight paper with plenty of white space surrounding them, these postcards make a brilliant topic for an art book from Phaidon, masters of the subject.

 

These postcards are mostly from around fifty years ago. They would have seemed completely boring twenty years ago, but now bring instant nostalgia. They are fascinating to look back on with our love for all things retro at the moment. They are anything but boring.

What is really amazing is how much of that brutalist concrete architecture still exists; there are views of several town centres that I know intimately and still recognise the main features today. These were also the days when flying was a luxury, caravans by the sea were more likely to feature in holiday plans, and if you had to drive there, the new motorways and their service stations were all part of the experience. All are represented here in all their glory! (10/10)

Source: Own copy,   Boring Postcards, ed Martin Parr (Phaidon, 1999), now in paperback, 176 pages.


Boring Postcards Redux

One of my favourite artbooks is Boring Postcards by Martin Parr. It elevates the worst examples of the humble picture postcard to art. My original 2009 post is now above, where I gave it five stars it was that good.

Another of the things I brought back from my Mum’s was her postcard collection. Two big shoeboxes stuffed with every postcard she’d ever received and many, many blank ones too. My daughter and I have been spending the morning sorting them a bit into locations. We’ve come across many interesting ones, but the most fascinating are almost by definition the most boring! Here are a few for your delectation …

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The Civic Centre, Plymouth which according to the text on the back seems to have been sent to show the recipient where Guildhall is – ie behind the office tower block.

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Then below we have another civic centre or Stadhuis in this case, in Brunssum in Holland.   Dated 1981 and sent to my Mum at work from ‘R’ – very mysterious!

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Next comes the Motel des Pierrettes, 5 minutes from Lausanne in Switzerland. It always gets me that people send postcards of their hotel, when the view would be nicer – but perhaps less interesting.  Sent by my great-aunt in 1965.

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postcards 2

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The fourth card is a classic – doesn’t that just make you want to pack up everything and head down to Dorset and stay in a caravan in a crowded field in rather overcast weather?  This was to my Mum from Win – not quite sure of the family relationship, but she was off to Barrow next in 1959.

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Next a postcard from September 1954 – from Butlins Ocean Hotel at Brighton. It’s addressed to ‘Mrs Thorn’ and the other occupants of her office and it’s from ‘Ray’. This is significant, because my Mum, Mrs Thorn was just back from her honeymoon in August. The card was sent by a colleague in Brighton at a Bowls tournament. (Turned out to be a diff Ray, not Dad – Ed)

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The last pair are a little less boring but no less interesting, well to me anyway …

We have a card from Butlin’s Holiday Camp somewhere in Northern Island.  The card appears to be hand-tinted – the colours of the ballgowns standing out rather violently.  On the back my late Uncle Brian thanks my Mum for the shirt.

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And finally, a very oddly coloured card of the Salle de la Roulette in the Casino at Monte-Carlo. I chose this one as, empty, the room is strange and although ornate, rather unspectacular considering its reputation.  I imagine this room humming and full of glamorous film stars and men in tuxedos – where’s 007 when you need him?  A vintage 1960s scene, sent to my Mum at work from one of her friends.

Well I hope you enjoyed these works of ‘art’. I will get back to writing about books soon, although I do have plenty of other treasures from my Mum’s archive stored up to share too.

2 thoughts on “Boring Postcards is anything but!

  1. Sly Wit says:

    I treasure all the postcards in my collection and love looking through them and seeing messages from old friends, trends in vacations, and exotic (as well as not-so-exotic) locations. One of my cousins and two friends are world travelers so I have covered much of the globe vicariously. I was especially thrilled when I was able to go to my late aunt’s house to sort through her collection and found a bunch of cards my mom sent from the U.S. when she first moved here to marry my dad.

    • AnnaBookBel says:

      Not being a much of a photographer, my Mum used to buy huge numbers of blank postcards as souvenirs. I am keeping the ones she actually sent/ or sent to her though.

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