Philip Jones Griffiths

Infobox Person
name = Philip Jones Griffiths


caption =
birth_date = birth date|1936|2|18
birth_place = Rhuddlan, Wales
death_date = death date and age|2008|3|19|1936|2|18
death_place = London, England
occupation = Photojournalism
nationality = UK
website = [http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R149GCO&nm=Philip%20Jones%20Griffiths Magnum Photos]

Philip Jones Griffiths (18 February, 1936 - 19 March, 2008) was a Welsh photojournalist known for his coverage of the Vietnam war.

Biography

Jones Griffiths was born in Rhuddlan, to Joseph Griffiths, who supervised the local trucking service of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and Catherine Jones, Rhuddlan's district nurse, who ran a small maternity clinic at home. [cite book|last=Jones Griffiths|first=Philip|title=Dark Odyssey|year=1996|publisher=Aperture|isbn=978-0893816452|ISBN status=May be invalid - please double check The introduction by Murray Sayle continues "In the Welsh manner, Philip uses the name of both his parents, to distinguish himself from all the other Joneses and Griffithses of the neighbourhood."] He studied pharmacy in Liverpool and worked in London as the night manager at the Piccadilly branch of Boots The Chemist, while also working as a part-time photographer for the Manchester Guardian.cite web|url=http://www.photohistories.com/interviews/23/philip-jones-griffiths|publisher=Photo Histories|series=Tales from Photography|title=Philip Jones Griffiths|date=2008-05-03|first=Graham|last=Harrison|accessdate=2008-07-15]

His first photograph was of his friend, taken with the family Brownie in a rowboat off Holyhead.cite web
url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/elizabeth.ercocklly/philip.htm
title=Philip Jones Griffiths, an interview
accessdate=2008-07-15
date=2004-06-01
first=Anthony
last=Brockway]

Jones Griffiths never married, saying it was a "bourgeois" notion, but that he had had "significant" relationships. [cite news
url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/photography/story/0,,2267726,00.html
accessdate=2008-07-14
title=Obituary: Philip Jones Griffiths
date=2008-03-24
first=Amanda
last=Hopkinson
work=Guardian] Survived by Fenella Ferrato, Katherine Holden, Donna Ferrato, and Heather Holden, he died from cancer on March 19, 2008. [cite news
url=http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2008/03/griffiths.html
accessdate=2008-07-14
title=Philip Jones Griffiths Dies In London
date=2008-03-19
publisher=NPPA
first=Donald R.
last=Winslow] cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/arts/design/20griffiths.html?ex=1363752000&en=fc96fff81dd8019e&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink|title=Philip Jones Griffiths, Photographer, Dies at 72 |last=Kennedy|first=Randy|date=2008-03-20|publisher=New York Times|accessdate=2008-05-03] cite news|author=Agence France-Presse|title=War photographer Philip Jones Griffith dies at 72|url=http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20080319-125771/War-photographer-Philip-Jones-Griffith-dies-at-72|date=2008-03-19|work=Philippine Daily Inquirer|accessdate=2008-07-15] cite web|url=http://blog.magnumphotos.com/2008/03/philip_jones_griffiths_1936-2008.html|title=Philip Jones Griffiths 1936-2008|first=Stuart|last=Franklin|date=2008-03-19|publisher=Magnum Photos]

Journalist John Pilger wrote in tribute to Philip soon after his death: "I never met a foreigner who cared as wisely for the Vietnamese, or about ordinary people everywhere under the heel of great power, as Philip Jones Griffiths. He was the greatest photographer and one of the finest journalists of my lifetime, and a humanitarian to match…. His photographs of ordinary people, from his beloved Wales to Vietnam and the shadows of Cambodia, make you realise who the true heroes are. He was one of them." [Pilger, John. [http://www.johnpilger.com/page.asp?partid=480 A tribute to Philip Jones Griffiths, who understood war & peace, & people] . March 26, 2008. Accessed July 2008.]

Career

He started work as a full-time freelance photographer in 1961 for the Observer, travelling to Algeria in 1962. He arrived in Vietnam in 1966, working for the Magnum agency.

Magnum found his images difficult to sell to American magazines, as they concentrated on the suffering of the Vietnamese people and reflected his view of the war as an episode in the continuing decolonisation of former European possessions. However, he was eventually able to get a scoop that the American outlets liked: photographs of Jackie Kennedy vacationing with a male friend in Cambodia. The proceeds from these photos enabled him to continue his coverage of Vietnam and to publish "Vietnam Inc." in 1971. The book had a major influence on American perceptions of the war, and became a classic of photojournalism. [" [http://www.democracynow.org/2002/1/23/vietnam_inc_a_photo_journey_through Vietnam Inc., Part I: A Photo-Journey Through the Villages, Fields, and Alleys of a Devastated Nation] ", Democracy Now!, 23 January 2002.] [" [http://www.democracynow.org/2002/1/24/vietnam_inc_part_ii_a_photo Vietnam Inc., Part II: A Photo-Journey through the Villages, Fields, and Alleys of a Devastated Nation] ", Democracy Now!, 24 January 2002.] The South Vietnamese president, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, was less impressed, remarking "Let me tell you there are many people I don’t want back in my country, but I can assure you Mr. Griffiths name is at the top of the list."

In 1973, he covered the Yom Kippur War. He then worked in Cambodia from 1973 to 1975. In 1980, he became the president of Magnum, a position he then held for five years. In 2001 Vietnam Inc. was reprinted with a foreword by Noam Chomsky. Subsequent books have included "Dark Odyssey," a collection of his best pictures, and "Agent Orange," dealing with the impact of the US defoliant Agent Orange on postwar generations in Vietnam.

Philip Jones Griffiths Foundation for the Study of War

After becoming aware of his terminal condition, Jones Griffiths launched a foundation to preserve his archives. His daughters helm the foundation, which is currently without a permanent home. [cite web|url=http://www.bjp-online.co.uk/public/showPage.html?page=790378
title=Welsh home for PJG's archive?
work=British Journal of Photography
accessdate=2008-07-14
date=2008-04-23]

Bibliography

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References

External links

*cite journal|last=Messer|first=William|title=Presence Of Mind: The Photographs of Philip Jones Griffiths|journal=Aperture (magazine)|volume=190|url=http://www.aperture.org/jonesgriffiths/|month=Spring|year=2008|accessdate=2008-05-03
*Dannin, Bob (January 2002). " [http://www.musarium.com/stories/vietnaminc/interview.html Interview with Philip Jones Griffiths] ". New York City.
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* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/in_pictures_philip_jones_griffiths_/html/11.stm Photograph of him in action] , John Giannini, Magnum