As well as attending various exhibitions and photography talks during my MA, as part of my preparation and planning, in the summer before my MA started I visited various portrait exhibitions. The aim of this was to allow me to start developing a stronger knowledge of my subject area. In August I was lucky enough to go to Berlin for a week where I visited three great exhibitions:
Camera Work Rocks
This was a self-curate exhibition by the Camera Work’s gallery and featured over 100 portrait photographs of world famous musicians, taken my some of the best photographers of their time. I found the exhibition visually stimulating, as there was lots of images I’d never seen of well know musicians that I loved. However more interesting was seeing the different approaches/styles photographers used, from natural documentary style photography to very staged, studio shots. One image that really struck me was by photographer Eugenio Recuenco. The photograph was in the style of an Old Master’s painting both in subject, lighting and texture and was huge at 70 x 135 cm in an elaborate gilded frame. The image showed a man dominating two voluptuous naked women who were laid on the floor in what looked like a sauna room. What really attracted me to the image was the lighting, which was soft and directional, very representative of a Botticelli or Giorgione, creating an almost biblical atmosphere to the image.
Helmut Newton Foundation
This gallery had two exhibitions on, firstly the Helmut Newton: World without Men. This was an archival show of Newton’s fashion photography spanning three decades. There was also an exhibition of all his personal belongings including his cameras, notebooks and faxed correspondence between himself and various publications that he working for. I found these really interesting to read as it gave me an insight into the relationships he had with high profile people in the fashion industry. He clearly saw them as close friends, as well all business colleagues. The second exhibition was of portraits by Francois-Marie Banier. These were what I would consider classic portraits in style of celebrities from over the years.
Zerstorte Vielfalt
This was a street exhibition to honour the men and women who contributed to Berlin’s culture in the 1920’s that were then persecuted and drive into exile during the terror of the 1938 November Pogroms. Most of the text at the exhibition was in German so it was quite hard to fully understand who the people were in each image. However I was able to take in the different portraits, which were obviously shot on film during the 1920’s and therefore gave me insight into the photographic style of the time.
Lisa Holmes MA Photography 