Mark Haworth-Booth was born in Yorkshire. He studied English Literature at Cambridge University and Art History at Edinburgh University.
He was appointed Assistant Keeper of Circulation (travelling exhibitions) at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1970. He organised many exhibitions for touring, 1971-76, including The Compassionate Camera: Dustbowl Pictures, Ansel Adams Photographs, The Land: 20th century landscape photographs (selected by Bill Brandt). He was appointed curator of photographs at the V&A in 1977 and has written standard works on the history of photography.
As the V&A’s senior curator of photographs (1977-2004) he championed the work of many photographic artists as various as Lewis Baltz, Sian Bonnell, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helen Chadwick, Susan Derges, David Goldblatt, Josef Koudelka, Markéta Luskačova, Roger Mayne, Don McCullin, Lee Miller, Irving Penn, Ingrid Pollard, Maud Sulter, Tessa Traeger and many others. He worked with English Heritage on a blue plaque installed on Camille Silvy’s former studio in Bayswater in 2019
On his retirement in 2004 Mark was awarded an OBE for services to museums and made an Honorary Research Fellow at the V&A. He served as Visiting Professor of Photography at the University of the Arts London (2004-09).
Mark and his wife moved to North Devon in 2009. He edited A Photographic Friendship: James Ravilious and Chris Chapman (2022).
