Photography Turns 200 — and Its Greatest Satirist Has Left Us
A bicentennial, a retrospective, and the week ahead in photography
Two hundred years ago, Nicéphore Niépce captured what is widely regarded as the first permanent photograph from his window in Burgundy. In 2026 — the bicentennial of the medium — the photography world is responding with an unprecedented concentration of major exhibitions. Lee Miller at Tate Britain, Seydou Keïta at the Brooklyn Museum, FotoFest marking 40 years in Houston — photography is receiving the kind of wall-to-wall institutional attention usually reserved for painting and sculpture.
But the year’s most anticipated show carries a weight no one expected. Martin Parr — the great British satirist who spent five decades documenting the absurdities of modern life — died on December 6, 2025, of myeloma. He was 73. His career-spanning retrospective “Global Warning” at the Jeu de Paume in Paris, curated by Quentin Bajac, opened in January as both celebration and elegy. It is now the first major posthumous survey of his work.
WHY IT MATTERS:
The concentration of museum-scale photography shows in a single year — the bicentennial year — signals a permanent shift in how the art establishment values the medium. For collectors, it means rising visibility — and rising prices. For photographers, it means a wider audience than ever before. And Parr’s posthumous retrospective gives the bicentennial a bittersweet anchor: photography has never been more celebrated, even as we’ve lost one of its most vital voices. Meanwhile, MIA Photo Fair opens in Milan this week and FotoFest marks four decades in Houston — further proof that photography’s moment is now.
ON VIEW
5 Exhibitions Worth Your Attention
Martin Parr: Global Warning
Jeu de Paume, Paris · Jan 30 – May 24, 2026
Now the first major posthumous survey of Parr’s work, this career-spanning retrospective of 180+ images across 50 years feels even more essential. Curated by Quentin Bajac — satirical, colorful, uncomfortable, and unmissable. Jeu de Paume
Lee Miller
Tate Britain, London · 2026
The most extensive retrospective ever mounted for the surrealist-turned-war-correspondent. Over 250 vintage and modern prints charting an extraordinary life from Man Ray’s muse to Vogue photographer to witness at Dachau. Tate Britain
Seydou Keïta
Brooklyn Museum, New York · 2026
The most expansive North American exhibition of the Malian portrait master’s silver prints. Studio portraiture as high art — luminous, composed, timeless. Brooklyn Museum
FotoFest Biennial 2026: Global Visions
Sawyer Yards, Houston · March 7 – May 10, 2026
FotoFest turns 40 with a celebration spanning artists from 58+ countries across its four-decade archive. Curated by co-founder Wendy Watriss and executive director Steven Evans. FotoFest
Nan Goldin: This Will Not End Well
Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan – 2026
Goldin’s unflinching visual diary continues. Raw, intimate, political — and worth pairing with a visit to MIA Photo Fair, just across town. Pirelli HangarBicocca
FAIR & FESTIVAL WATCH
What’s Coming Up
MIA Photo Fair BNP Paribas — Milan, Italy
March 19–22, 2026 (VIP Preview: March 18)
Italy’s leading international photography fair returns to Superstudio Più for its 15th edition. Artistic director Francesca Malgara brings curated sections including “Beyond Photography — Dialogue” and a new Special Focus on a TBA country. Last year: 114 exhibitors, 77 galleries, 13,000 visitors. MIA Photo Fair
The Photography & Video Show — Birmingham, UK
March 14–17, 2026
The UK’s biggest photography event. Gear, talks, portfolio reviews, workshops — wrapping up this weekend. The Photography Show
Circulation(s) — CENTQUATRE-PARIS
March 21 – May 17, 2026
Annual festival spotlighting young European photography. A strong discovery-oriented program and one of the best values in the spring photography calendar. Circulation(s)
THE AUCTION BLOCK
Market Signals
Heritage Auctions ran three photography-dedicated sales in early 2026. Their "Depth of Field: Photographs" auctions on February 11 and March 11, plus "Photographs from The Abe Frajndlich Collection: A Photographer Collects" on February 18, collectively realized over $275,000 across hundreds of lots — a steady pulse at the mid-market level where most collecting actually happens. Heritage Auctions
WHY IT MATTERS:
The photography auction market remains modest compared to painting and sculpture — total sales from 2005 to 2024 were $3.07 billion, according to Artnet — but the bicentennial year could shift that. With institutional attention at an all-time high, dedicated photography sales at Phillips (April) and Christie's (October) will test whether 2026 becomes a breakout year for the medium at auction. The all-time record remains Man Ray's "Le Violon d'Ingres" at $12.4 million (Christie's, 2022). We'll be tracking every sale.
OFF THE PRESS
New & Noteworthy
Aperture Magazine No. 262: “The End of Nature?”
Released March 12, 2026
Aperture’s spring issue is out this week. Featured photographers include Mitch Epstein (imperiled US old-growth forests), Hashem Shakeri (drought in Balochistan — the cover), Rinko Kawauchi (Japanese landscapes), and César Rodríguez (Mexico’s flooded fishing towns). Essays by Pico Iyer and Lydia Millet. A sweeping, urgent issue. Aperture
Anja Niedringhaus: Photography
Steidl
A comprehensive monograph honoring the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, killed covering the 2014 Afghan elections. Essential. Steidl
Helen Levitt: New York Archive / Color
Steidl
Previously unseen color work from Levitt’s legendary New York street archive. A gift for street photography devotees. Steidl
LENS ON...
Martin Parr (1952–2025)
Martin Parr didn’t photograph the world — he diagnosed it. The British photographer, who died on December 6 at age 73 from myeloma, spent five decades turning his saturated, close-up lens on the things most of us look past: the queues, the buffets, the sunburns, the souvenirs. In Parr’s hands, the banal became a critique of everything.
Born in Epsom, Surrey, and raised on his grandfather’s love of photography, Parr studied at Manchester Polytechnic before embarking on a body of work that would redefine documentary photography. The Last Resort (1986), his unflinching portrait of a crumbling New Brighton seaside, announced a new voice. Small World and Common Sense extended the project globally — mass tourism, consumer excess, and the quiet absurdities of late capitalism, all shot in ring-flash color that made the uncomfortable impossible to look away from.
He joined Magnum Photos in 1994 by a single vote — and served as its president from 2013 to 2017. He published over 60 photobooks, co-authored the essential The Photobook: A History with Gerry Badger, curated Rencontres d’Arles, received a CBE, and founded the Martin Parr Foundation in Bristol to champion photography beyond his own. He is survived by his wife Susie and daughter Ellen.
His retrospective “Global Warning” at the Jeu de Paume — 180+ works curated by Quentin Bajac — runs through May 24. He also features in this week’s Aperture No. 262. Go see it. He made serious photographs disguised as entertainment; the least we can do is take them seriously. Jeu de Paume · Full biography
Further Reading: Susie Parr, Martin’s wife and partner of four decades, wrote a beautiful remembrance for the cover of i-D Issue 376, reflecting on their life together, his genius, and the reopening of the Martin Parr Foundation with The Last Resort.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Your Calendar for March 16–22
March 14–17: The Photography & Video Show wraps up in Birmingham, UK.
March 15: Deadline — Musée du quai Branly Photography Award 2026 (no entry fee).
March 18: MIA Photo Fair VIP Preview, Superstudio Più, Milan.
March 19–22: MIA Photo Fair BNP Paribas opens to public, Milan.
March 19–21: PhotoCon Kansas City.
March 21: Circulation(s) festival opens at CENTQUATRE-PARIS.
Continuing: Martin Parr: Global Warning at Jeu de Paume, Paris (through May 24).
Continuing: FotoFest Biennial 2026, Houston (through May 10).