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LEE MILLER 06 PABLO PICASSO AT VILLA LA CALIFORNIE Cannes, France. 1957
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Image: Edward Burtynsky Super Pit, #4, Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, 2007 Chromogenic Print, 122 x 152 cm CONTENTS >> EDITORIAL | 06
Art Fairs London Ltd intend to launch Art13 (international Modern and Contemporary Art) at Olympia, in March 2013. Stephanie Dieckvoss (ex Fair Manager at Frieze) has been appointed Director and it will be interesting to see if there is room for yet another alternative showcase event and what part photography will play.
SCOPING out the photography at ART2012, an ingredient of most gallery stands, and especially the Photo50 feature, a certain nuance could be detected and there appears to be a subtle backlash growing against the point-and-shoot capabilities of digital technology. The latest hardware does everything for you except choose the shot, the in-camera editing options are impressive, and the AF is faster than ever. But for a new breed of artists using the photographic medium there seems to be a desire to engage with the raw elements of image making and the magic that used to be a key ingredient of the process.
The conjuring with light and dark, surface and chemicals, is suddenly more attractive than ever and the number of photographers recreating and working with original processes – ambrotypes; wet Collodion; daguerreotypes; heliographs – is increasing. This cannot be unrelated to the fact that there remains a strong reservation amongst collectors about the ease of creating a perfect facsimile of any THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC digital photograph. The medium is, after all, one designed for reproduction in Walter Hugo conjures with light & dark unlimited numbers. Dealers have long noted the desire for vintage prints and 08 copies hand made by the artist. The 19th century processes guaranteed that every image would be unique, either as a literal ‘one-off’ or as a print with distinct characteristics. Both Walter Hugo and Gracielo Sacco appropriate traditional methodology in their work, and both are discussed in this issue, juxtaposed with the work of one the 20th century’s great ‘eyewitness’ photo-journalists, Lee Miller. 40 PERISCOPE Check out these hot It’s all here in Issue 6 of f22 – and it’s free! shows in PARIS Mike von Joel, Editor
COVER IMAGE | ISSUE 06 LEE MILLER SACCO Lee Miller 12 THE Modern girl 16 Eyes on Argentina Pablo Picasso at Villa la Californie Cannes, France. 1957 U Lee Miller’s husband, the Surrealist painter, poet and major promoter and collector of modern art was a major figure in British art and a lifelong champion of Picasso’s work. Almost from their first meeting, Picasso and the vivacious Lee Miller PEN IN THE CITY enjoyed a mutual attraction. Sure, the focus is lightning fast and the exposure system the most advanced ever The image above was just one of our favourites from the day intended to show Somewhat incongruously, Picasso visited Lee seen, but it is still rewarding to experiment. One of the beauties of the PEN system is off how good the PEN is for street photography. In this case we used a model and Roland at their bohemian farmhouse in East being able to attach almost any lens via a variety of readily available adapters. as sometimes it is necessary to cheat a little. Sussex. In 1950, when the artist was attending the Peace Conference in Sheffield, it was one of PHOTO PARIS SHELF LIFE At the bottom of someone's drawer there was a 100mm f2 Olympus Zuiko prime What we would really love to see is one of your shots in this space. If you fancy two trips the painter made to Farley Farm, where A Grande Affaire New books of merit telephoto lens from the 1970's. Manual focus gets you concentrating and attached to the challenge, send us an example image in a style you think might fit, to he made firm friends with their three year old son, 20 © Lee Miller Archives, England 2011. All rights reserved. 18 a PEN E-P3 via an adapter it seemed an unlikely combination but yielded some press.offi[email protected]. We will choose one or two we like, send you a PEN Anthony. The Penroses were welcome guests interesting results on a chilly day by the Thames. and let you have a go. The ones we like keep the camera. at Picasso’s studio in Cannes, La Californie, and 06 SNAPSHOT 07 GREAT UNSEEN PHOTOS Lee’s lens had a unique access to the private Next was the 12-60mm E-System zoom that seems to have more glass than a To see how far we pushed it, have a look at www.flickr.com/photos/olympusuk face of the great man. 07 URLS COURT glazier's warehouse. Here, you gain an exceptionally wide maximum aperture for a or search “PEN in the City Volume 1” on YouTube. zoom and the ability to capture more filmic results than usually seen with digital optics. See the PEN at WWW.OLYMPUS.CO.UK/PEN A PEOPLE | PLACES | PROJECTS EDITOR SPECIAL > PEN - SEE THINGS YOUR WAY. Mike von Joel CORRESPONDENTS [email protected] Clare Henry f22 Magazine is available through selected galleries, libraries, PUBLISHER Jeremy Hunt art schools, museums and other art venues across the UK. Karl Skogland Ian McKay [email protected] William Varley Georgina Turner c TOTALLY FREE, f22 is not a dull f22 is interactive. We value your DESIGN DIRECTOR review magazine – it is about recommendations. Tor Soreide BUREAU CHIEFS CORRESPONDENTS PUBLISHED BY [email protected] William Wright State Media Ltd PEOPLE worth serious consideration; Lyle Owerko Tell us: [email protected] PEN mini PEN Lite PEN SYDNEY LONDON ADMINISTRATION NEW YORK PLACES that are hot and happening; Elizabeth Crompton [email protected] Julie Milne Anne Chabrol MELBOURNE and PROJECTS that will interest To apply to stock f22 Magazine, email [email protected] PARIS DISTRIBUTION PRINTED BY photographers. Combined with STATE Julie Milne: [email protected] ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES David Tidball Julie Milne Garnett Dickinson Magazine, f22 reports the fusion of James Manning BERLIN [email protected] Rotherham S63 5DL art + photography like no other with a truly international perspective. www.f22magazine.com
www.f22magazine.com 5 QUOTEUNQUOTE h GREAT UNSEEN PHOTOGRAPHS
3 THE MILESTONE Polaroid SX-70 latest Polaroid related enterprise, 1 Samuel Aranda Sanaa, Yemen on 15 October 2011 Land camera ceased production in The Impossible Project in Vienna Winning Ways 1977, although the myth was – and so the ultimate ‘camera’ 'I don't photograph life as it is, kept alive and turned into a cool, concept was seized upon. The THE 55TH ANNUAL World Press Photo Contest but life as I would like it to be.’ fringe attraction by the Polanoir weight of the original reduced has selected Samuel Aranda from Spain for Gallery in Vienna. Founded by from 800g to only 170g; no need the World Press Photo of the Year 2011 for ROBERT DOISNEAU to John Follain, Florian Kaps and Andi Hentschel, for optics, mechanics and film; an iconic image shot in Yemen. A woman Sunday Times. 2005 they single-handedly created a for each and every excellent holds a wounded relative in her arms, inside new market for the obsolete image is created only in the eye a mosque used as a field hospital by technology, much sought after by and mind of the cameraman.
demonstrators against the rule of President 1Musician Maya Arulpragasam (M.I.A.) Maya takes to the Streets 2010 Ryan McGinley. Courtesy Team Gallery. New York artists and young creatifs fighting Ali Abdullah Saleh, during clashes in Sanaa the inevitable domination of digital on 15 October 2011. The New York Times Opens in Amsterdam processes. ‘Every The Hasselblad Foundation announced For over thirty years, the New York Times Magazine has presented the myriad In its day the Polaroid SX-70 was excellent image British photographer Paul Graham as the possibilities and applications of photography. a phenomenon and a cult, ultra- recipient of the 2012 Hasselblad Foundation chic accessory which swept the is created only International Award in Photography worth CURRENTLY, leading Dutch photo-centre, The exhibition includes 500 images by world with the magic of its quality, approximately £95,000. An exhibition of Paul FOAM, hosts some of the very best, 140 photographers, including: instant image. It was also – in the eye and Graham’s work will open on 26 October, 2012 organised by the Aperture Foundation, NYC Lillian Bassman, Chuck Close, allegedly – very popular with the at the Hasselblad Center at the Gothenburg (23 March - 30 May 2012); co-curated by Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Gregory Crewdson, fetish sub-cultures who were able mind of the Museum of Art, Sweden. The committee Kathy Ryan and Lesley A. Martin, and Thomas Demand, Rineke Dijkstra, Mitch to avoid the processing labs (and consisted of: including eleven individual modules, each Epstein, Lee Friedlander, Nan Goldin, Jeff thus, any outside interference cameraman’ Clément Chéroux (chair), Centre Pompidou, of which focuses on a notable project or Koons, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh with their private delectations). Paris; Ekaterina Degot, curator, Moscow; Ute series of projects from the Magazine. Matadin, Annie Leibovitz, Ryan McGinley, Perhaps equally surprising is the As works of art, these are treated Eskildsen, Museum Folkwang, Essen; Gao Using visual materials drawn from different Hellen van Meene, Jeff Mermelstein, fact that the SX-70 was a ‘must as such, and a limited, numbered Shiming, Curator, Hangzhou; Roberta Valtorta, stages of the commissioning process: Simon Norfolk, Paolo Pellegrin, Gilles have’ accoutrement in Ghana, edition of 400 of these scrap Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Milan. short lists, work prints and contact sheets, Peress, Sebastião Salgado, Andres Serrano ‘I wanted to be a poet because where the enterprising youth tra- metal ‘SX-70 Land’ camera’s have www.hasselbladfoundation.org videos, tear sheets, and framed prints; and Malick Sidibé. poets used to get high all the ditionally make replicas of things been commissioned from the all reveal the Magazine’s collaborative time and they always seemed they are never likely to ever own. skilled Ghanaians to create the methodology from initial idea to the FOAM Keizersgracht 609. Amsterdam. to get the girls’ It’s an endearing custom that Impossible Ghana Edition. From published page. www.foam.org should be adopted in the UK – Vienna, these artworks will be MICK ROCK on early ambition to visualise streets full of homemade disseminated via the Polaroid Hilary Whitney, Arts Desk iPhones, laptops and Chanel bags! fan base, a network of avid enthusiasts across the world. When some smart cookie from local agency, Heine/Lenz/Zizka, Priced at £43; 50 euro; spotted SX-70 replicas on the US$64.99; 4058Yen. streets of Accra – cleverly made out of folded tin cans – it got LINK reported back to Florian Kaps’ www.the-impossible-project.com Click - Wot a Picture! A £300 camera that lets you focus after taking the photograph! Shoot first, focus later, the pocket sized ‘light field’ (plenoptic) Lytro URLS COURT | LINKS camera effectively snaps every possible ‘It will be as tall as Nelson’s option by ‘focusing’ on everything in one 7 from London, 1940’s shutter-click, capturing images at every focal Column, but until the money is 1953; Post War American Bars, non-commercial and creative there nothing is going to ‘These photographs were taken using length simultaneously. Lytro’s sensor captures Kodachrome film by the improbably Cafés and Restaurants; etc) but photographers with unique, a huge amount of information – not just colour happen at all’ and wonderfully named Chalmers once engaged with the images archival material to share, as well and location, but the direction of every light Butterfield, probably in 1949’ the visitor is suffused with those as many embedded video clips ray flowing into the camera – and condenses MARK WALLINGER on his White Horse childhood sensations of wonder in the same vein. Our favourite: the images. Software inside the camera commission to Fisun Güner, Arts Desk many fine images to discover. But and discovery. There is, of course, a series of captioned pictures reconstructs this into a ‘3D’ picture, also what about a photo-library where a strong element of nostalgia, but entitled Tips for Single Women, viewable in 3D without any conversion. When every gallery is an absolute gem? the impetus to explore and learn is 1938. reviewing Lytro pictures on a PC, mobile irresistible – along with the ability Warning: do not enter this site phone or tablet, the pictures are stored as To achieve this, like anything else, to roam across the centuries from unless you have a couple of hours animations – you can simply touch anything Open Air Street Gallery requires a visionary leader. The the 1800’s to the present in a Time to spare! in an image to focus on it. Lytro’s image files founder and director of Retronaut Machine of the mind. retronaut.co transmit as Flash animations via email and The Fitzrovia Photography Prize is judged, The diversity of photographers reflected is one such – in the person of selections can be saved as JPEGs. exhibited and curated by Diemar/Noble the many facets of city life: romance, British blogger Chris Wild. The site Chris Wild, who says he ‘lives in Photography and sponsored by John Lewis apathy, absurdity, political unrest, that Wild has lovingly created Oxfordshire, with his wife Dr. Annie The Wall Street Journal has described it as Oxford Street, in collaboration with Fitzroy comedy, national celebration and quiet is made up of what he calls Sutherland, and their two children, ‘a revolution in consumer photography’. The Place developers, Exemplar and Aviva moments of observation – a genuine ‘capsules’ – effectively concise Ruby and Zebedee’, has a camera’s makers are a Silicon Valley start-up Investors. The rules of the competition were portrait of London life. On show until May ‘.... the Collection is built on galleries of images that meet his photographer’s sensibility and it that secured $50 million in funding and, simple: Each entrant could submit up to at Fitzroy Place, opposite Black & Blue Time Machine for Their Mind exacting standards and artist’s is impossible to fault the calibre allegedly, Apple CEO Steve Jobs met with three images taken within a one mile radius restaurant on Mortimer Street, W1T 3NB; the generosity of artists’ ‘eye’. The range of subjects might, of the submissions that make it Lytro to discuss building the technology into of the Diemar/Noble gallery, just minutes the competition will be running again later DOROTHY VOGEL on the phenomenon that is the >> THERE ARE MANY image banks snappers located all over the on the surface, seem simply zany through the selection process and iPhones. Source: Daily Mail from the Fitzroy Place development site. in 2012. Dorothy & Herbert Vogel Collection (1000 key to host those endless series of world. If you take the time to sift and amusing (Palettes of Famous into the vaults. Retronaut also works gifted to the National Gallery of Art, photographs, uploaded by keen through, there are invariably Painters; Brigitte Bardot in Cannes, provides a credible platform for Chris Wild Washington. DC in 1991)
6 www.f22magazine.com www.f22magazine.com 7 THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC
1 Maier Norman Ambrotype process on glass A Moment in an Instant World Shizaru Gallery
THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC A young contemporary photographer conjures images from the past
TEXT MIKE VON JOEL | IMAGES WALTER HUGO/SHIZARU GALLERY
ALTER HUGO IS on a roll. old 8 x 10 bellows view camera that she His exhibition, A Moment had used previously.(2) New York-based, in an Instant World at the Jill Enfield is best known for her work with Shizaru Gallery,(1) opened the Cyanotype and Collodion; and more to great acclaim and a recently the wet plate Collodion process, snappy Private View busy originally used by Matthew Brady during Wwith bright young things from the creative the Civil War. world of London arts. The following week he was off by invitation to New York amidst Walter Hugo recollects being given an great excitement at the possibilities Olympus compact camera at eight years opening up for his work. He is destined to old and was interested to rediscover the be a big success in the Big Apple because photographs he took with it – of unusual photographers working with original objects rather than friends and family. processes have already established Despite attending UCL as a science student collector and museum interest in the (‘I could have got a job as a geophysicist!’) revived genre. in his spare time Hugo briefly assisted the photographer Rankin, having a crash The young, London-based photographer course in the technicalities of film and is quick to point out his education was in Polaroid. He also attended a course at the the sciences as opposed to art school. Royal Holloway studying documentary He is almost apologetic about it – yet his filmmaking, something that still engages qualifications in physics and maths from him today. Recently he has completed UCL are actually an integral part of his a number of short films relating to his current work programme. For his images working process(3) and Hugo confesses are heavily reliant on skills with chemical to being much impressed with Hans formulas and the science of lenses and Namuth’s 1950 film of Jackson Pollock at the principles of the camera obscura. work in his studio, especially the throwing of paint onto the surface. Linking this to Like many contemporary photographers, the habit of anti-art protesters’ throwing of Hugo is disenchanted with the point and paint onto pictures that offend them, he click marvels of digital imaging whereby manufactured his own version of blue it is possible to recreate, in-camera, a (à la Yves Klein) which he splattered on plethora of effects (even matching the to his digitally reproduced photographs – appearance of Kodachrome or Tri-X thus creating de facto unique prints.
period film stocks) that require little or Walter Hugo does not eschew digital no skill. And the fidelity of the object in technology altogether, having adapted a
contemporary photography is being 1 Top, left, right: Creative Artists Projection onto light sensitive surface. From Developing Shadows series. set of old 19th century brass lenses to seriously questioned by the sheer Centre: Creative Artists Ambrotype portrait from Reflecting the Bright Lights series. fit a DSLR in order to capture authentic volume and instant replication of ( effects without the benefit of Photoshop images created today. ‘Hugo confesses that he is ‘obsessed’ manipulation. In America, Mark Osterman and Frances with portraits – capturing a moment The freedom of street art also attracted Scully Osterman have pioneered the Hugo’s attention, especially the outsized renewed interest in original photographic ( of someone’s existence’ photographic images by the acclaimed techniques, which are themselves more French interventionist known as JR, akin to painting than modern options. the technical evolution of photography image qualities of what might be called although Hugo’s immediate response was Osterman is Photographic Process from Niépce heliographs to gelatin ‘original photography’. In the mid 1990’s, how to make the print appear on the actual Historian at the George Eastman House emulsions for a new generation of Sally Mann began photographing surface as opposed to pasting it on as a International Museum of Photography and enthusiasts. Some notable American landscapes on wet plate Collodion 8x10 stencil. With typical application, Hugo Film in Rochester, NY. He actively teaches artists have adopted the philosophy and glass negatives with the same 100-year- started to investigate the logistics of this,
8 www.f22magazine.com www.f22magazine.com 9 PEOPLE WALTER HUGO THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC
1 ‘Muse’ (Zoniel Burton) Ambrotype process on glass 1 Eddie Redmayne Ambrotype process on glass A Moment in an Instant World Shizaru Gallery A Moment in an Instant World Shizaru Gallery
1 Portraits from Theories II Installation in a room sized ‘camera’ A Moment in an Instant World exhibition. Shizaru Gallery
getting support from Silverprint (London’s it was called Collodion positive: one side (dare we say, scientific) mind and leading supplier of traditional materials) of a very clean glass plate is covered with technical skills giving a real and original who provided invaluable guidance, a thin layer of Collodion, then dipped in a power to his art. The creative side to especially on emulsions(4). ‘My workshop silver nitrate solution and exposed to the Hugo’s nature welcomes the haphazard turned into a laboratory, experimenting with subject while still wet. The plate is then and unpredictable results when making emulsions until I found one that worked.’ developed and fixed. The resulting nega- the image – as opposed to demanding a tive, when viewed by reflected light perfect exposure and reproduction. He Hugo confesses that he is ‘obsessed’ against a black background, appears as a isa man on a mission and it is one we with portraits – capturing a moment of positive image. Each exposure is unique. are sure to hear a lot more about in the someone’s existence – and themes of A room became the inside of a camera, near future. identity. His new projects are all concerned the lenses reconfigured from old brass with finding new ways of capturing a discoveries. ‘I made a head rest out of an likeness, using film, camera and old guitar stand,’ Hugo laughs, ‘the processing techniques. His philosophy exposure time is anything from 8 to 12 NOTES he states as being ‘content, idea, and seconds, so it’s just like the Victorian 1. Shizaru Gallery. 112 Mount St. London W1K 2TU execution’ as opposed to much method of keeping still.’ contemporary imagery which is based 2. The wet Collodion process is sensitive only to blue light. Warm colours appear dark, cool colours solely on content. ‘I should publish a At his inaugural exhibition at SHOWstudio uniformly light. Victorian sitters in Collodion manifesto,’ he laughs, ‘but which door (Reflecting the Bright Lights), Hugo turned photographs might look as if they are in mourning to nail it to...?’ An extension of his the room into camera; for his second but could have been wearing bright yellow 1 Walter Hugo 2012 experimental approach to creating the show (Developing Shadows) at Camden’s or pink. Old Compton Street, Soho. London image is ably illustrated by his apparatus, Cob Gallery, he turned the building into which Hugo built by hand. He looked into a darkroom, painting the walls with 3. See Vimeo: vimeo.com/30018469 acquiring existing equipment but nothing chemicals and projecting images to and vimeo.com/16497712 matched his vision for life-size 1:1 por- achieve what he called ‘photographic 4. Silverprint. 12 Valentine Place, London SE1 8QH traits until he settled on the Ambrotype, frescoes’. possibly named after James Ambrose LINKS Cutting who took out several patents Walter Hugo’s enthusiasm is infectious. www.walterhugo.co.uk 1 Charlie Casey Hayelsford Ambrotype process on glass 1 Charlotte Dellal Ambrotype process on glass relating to the process in 1854. In the UK It is not difficult to see his enquiring www.shizaru.com A Moment in an Instant World Shizaru Gallery A Moment in an Instant World Shizaru Gallery
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7 LEE MILLER Self Portrait with Porcelain Sphinxes 1940 Vogue Studio, London. ©Lee Miller Archive
T THE END OF LAST season, Paris hosted dump for obsolete technology on the out- cal surrealist landscapes by Scarlett Hooft informed risk, so that the range of contem- two contrasting photo events: the annual skirts of a Ghana slum. Added to the mix is Graafland, also at Hoppen, I visited some porary photography on offer is brilliant, Paris Photo, and the galleries of Saint- what the sponsors want to show off: the JP aerial landscapes by Edward Burtynsky at diverse, thriving. For the galleries present Germain-des-Prés. The former is an interna- Morgan Chase Collection, for example; and Flowers. In contrast to the pastoral patch- it's a time to show off discreetly and prove IT’S COMPLICATED tional proclamation of today’s (and tomor- the major and institutional acquisitions: work quilts of yesteryear's countryside, themselves worthy. Every artist wants to row's) top dog names, the latter a celebra- such as the Tate buying in of Daido these present an abstract etching of land be represented and included therein. And tion of the mythical quartier, with its Moriyama for an exhibition next year; and rendered by industrial exploitation, with the visitor gets a snapshot of the organis- The irresistible force that was the photographer, Lee Miller 1950’s heritage of art, jazz, cabaret – and the Musée de l'Elysée's purchase of the spectacular effect. I landed in Baudoin ing mix that makes up the contemporary TEXT MIKE VON JOEL | IMAGES LEE MILLER ARCHIVE women of experienced virtue. Paris Photo Charlie Chaplin archives. Lebon and discussed Madagascan race art+photography world, in which the is based on a business model of free mar- X and identity issues with the artist Malala French particularly excel, as well as the ket pushiness, where high expectations X Andrialavidrazana. Her starkly intimate inte- opportunity to garner the most valuable entertain big bucks chasing the best of Finally, and overwhelmingly, there is what rior shots reprimand the tourist's idealised opinions around. T IS A MYSTERY why the life and times Back in America, in another fairy tale twist unique names. The first Festival Photo the market wants to show: the expensive view of her native country. Then some por- X of American photographer, Lee Miller, of fate, at 19 she was saved from being Saint Germain-des-Prés is a much cosier classics supported by established galleries traits to end: Barbara Probst's Exposure X have not been the subject of a TV run over on a Manhattan street by a affair of family-run, entrepreneurial gal- in Paris, London, New York; emerging pho- #49 presents a disconnected, standard- Festival Photo Saint Germain-des-Prés is a drama-doc. Certainly her career could passer-by who turned out to be Condé leries. Where each customer is wooed as a tographers from Scandinavia, China, and ised view of an organised, asexual, self- sexy contrast to Paris Photo. St Germain- match Pamela Harriman for drama Nast, the publisher and founder of Vogue. friend and cosseted, and the gallery direc- artists based in Berlin. The well-oiled assured and (terrifyingly to me) neutral, des-Prés is, today, only questionably a hap- and adventure.(1) Writer, David Hare, He responded to Lee’s natural beauty and tor's uniquely experienced eye determines onslaught of photographs from the North contemporary woman. I found light relief pening place, with a predictable pose that reputedly got to the final straight European chic by hiring her as a model – the taste, albeit with a sens des affaires. European states tend to favour ice-ridden with Christian Tagliavini's series of portraits: panders to the myth – and to tourism. before the machinations of the movie she appeared on the cover of the March X landscapes, penguins and climate change slightly caricatured modern takes on his- However, it unquestionably remains a per- business thwarted the project. Because, 1927 issue. It resulted in two years of X over nudes. Sharp-coloured houses bun- torical female icons of the genre. sonality place. Many of the art galleries, Ialthough Lee Miller’s output had peaked by hectic work as one of New York’s leading It's Paris Photo Press night and for the first dled and isolated within snowscapes by X photo agencies and dedicated art book- the end of the Second World War, she was photographic models. time in 15 years, it is being held in the vast Tiina Itkonen at Gallery Taik, was a good X shops that concentrate along and around a thoroughly liberated girl, more 60’s ‘rock expanse of the sturdy greenhouse that is example. The Chinese focus on the individ- Reed Expositions France organise 450 the rue de Seine are well-established and chick’ than a daughter of the Edwardian But the lure of Paris proved too much, the Grand Palais. The 135 stands stretch ual versus the collective: such as Maleonn trade and consumer events each year in supremely specialised. At their helm is the era. Her story would be completely and by 1929 Lee Miller again set sail for out into quads to display the many, many (Ma Liang) at Magda Danysz, who fetishis- 32 countries, and Paris Photo is a high-cul- Parisian photo agency, Roger-Viollet, who coherent to a modern audience and should Europe armed with an introduction to Man photographs and some photo-books. There es memories to record past, personalised ture jewel amongst them. Mostly, these are maintains the photo archive for the Ville de certainly resonate with any young person Ray (from Edward Steichen) and to the is so much work to look at! Plus the educa- emotions; and the confusion of manipula- commercial trade rather than high-brow, Paris and makes them available to the gen- on a creative trajectory. editor of French Vogue, courtesy of Condé tional extras, installations (one by Markus tive and excessive communication in Du like Funeral Paris, which followed on from eral public online. The Photo festival had Nast. In typical Miller style, she soon Schaden) and performances laid on to Zhenjun's Towers of Babel series at RX Paris Photo and promised to be a ‘perfect the feel of an extended street party and The fact that Lee Miller has not faded into transcended being Man Ray’s pupil and entertain and surprise in any spare Gallery. These are collated from architectur- place to communicate, learn and enjoy was unusual, because it involved some gentle obscurity is due to the sterling work, the artist became infatuated with her. Ray moment – plus awards being delivered al and political images collected from the yourself with your fellow professionals’. public institutions that normally remain primarily, of her son Anthony ‘Tony’ taught his young lover all he knew about (notably to Paul Graham) and book-signing internet, to create visual parables for the Reed claims their events promote the irre- aloof from the private sector. Penrose. The child of Lee’s marriage to the photographer’s art and gave her the highlights (Edgar Martin annotating his The times, such as Old Europe, 2010. placeable ‘power of human contact’, aka X Roland Penrose (himself a major post-war confidence to look beyond modelling for Time Machine). X social networking, making useful friends. The organising committee was typically figure in British Art and co-founder of the French Vogue, no matter how successful X X And they probably do. homegrown with three members of the ICA) Tony has repositioned Miller as one of she was becoming. Miller soon established X To whet the appetite of the eye, there was X Aittouarès familly leading the Board. The the outstanding women photographers of her own studio and portrait business a few
Then there is the theme issue. Firstly, some homoerotica à la mode with Walter Certainly, these art fairs require stamina. theme, images et mots, reflected the dual her generation. There is an irony in this – streets away and, using her contacts in art L'Afrique à l'honneur, dictated by the Grand Pfeiffer at Sultana, followed by some dated They are like propaganda hypermarkets aspect of the area: the pleasures of eman- Lee and Tony Penrose were temperamental and fashion, was rapidly building a thriving
Palais event organisers, directed by newly glamour from Guy Bourdin at Michael with their highly-selective offerings. An cipated female flesh and the philosophical opposites and they never enjoyed a close 1 business and reputation. appointed Julien Frydman (former chief of Hoppen. In the frenzied but polite rush of it aura of exclusivity and excellence is main- existentialism of its poetic soul. personal relationship. Penrose’s definitive ANON Roland Penrose & Lee Miller 1946 Sedona, Arizon. USA ©Lee Miller Archive Magnum Photos, Paris). Decorated and all you get to meet and discuss with the tained. Does the ‘hot’ dominate the ‘new’? X biography of his mother, The Lives of Lee No commentary on Lee Miller can be nonchalant black bodies pose and dance heroic galleries who organise the market, Yes, there is a tendency to equate expen- X Miller, is all the more authentic for this, ( made without reference to her capricious – Malik Sidibé was well-represented – on and the singular artists who supply the sive with successful, it's the unimaginative Although retaining high heels entrenched because whilst drawing on unique access behaviour and many casual relationships one hand; and suffered poverty on the goods. So then the incitement to spend is default option. Nevertheless, there is also in the postwar past of the charming and the to private letters and diaries, it is devoid ‘I looked like an angel, with men. Informed observers have other – Pieter Hugo's photos of a vast beguiling. After some light-hearted, theatri- an abundance of genuine expertise and damned, the cherchez la femme thing has of the sentimentality common amongst referred this back to her close and intimate familial memoirs. but I was a fiend inside’ relationship with Theodore. Her father was ( LEE MILLER certainly a presence throughout her adult Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller, later Lady Penrose, life. Sexual allure was Lee Miller’s not so was born in Poughkeepsie, New York secret weapon and she used it with in 1907. Even at an early age she for him, something she continued for of a city that was then still the centre of the devastating effect. experienced extreme trauma. On a visit to many years to come. Even today this world of art and fashion. She later a family friend in Brooklyn at only eight father/daughter intimacy would be described herself at this period thus: Miller duly deserted Man Ray after meeting years of age, she was sexually molested considered exceedingly liberal minded. ‘I looked like an angel, but I was a fiend an Egyptian, Aziz Eloui Bey, but in 1932 and subsequently contracted gonorrhoea. Theodore also made a point of teaching her inside’. She greedily absorbed the she quit the emotional turmoil of this The episode never left Miller and, the technical processes of photography. names of writers and painters working relationship and returned to New York and significantly, her parents overcompensated in Paris and who were destined to another studio start-up. Two years later this by spoiling her well into her teenage years. become giants of 20th century art: Max New York venture, shared with her brother, Her father, Theodore, a keen amateur In 1925, the 18-year-old Miller went on an Ernst, Duchamp, de Chirico, Masson, Erik, was doing well despite the recession, photographer, had always favoured Lee extended trip to Paris where she promptly Cocteau, Tanguy, Breton, Magritte, Picasso, when the Egyptian, 20 years her senior, above her two brothers, and at 20 she was dodged her elderly chaperones and Braque, with Man Ray dominating creative turned up out of the blue. It should have posing for some memorable nude studies immersed herself in the culture and style photography. surprised no one that Lee promptly
12 www.f22magazine.com www.f22magazine.com 13 PEOPLE LEE MILLER IT’S COMPLICATED
discernible – if irresistible. Lee Miller had story itself is typical of the kismet that it. It enabled her, as the war progressed, surrounds the Lee Miller legend. A highly to obtain full accreditation as an official skilled darkroom technician, Callow arrived correspondent in the US forces, then a in East Sussex 30 years ago looking for remarkable feat for a woman in war time. temporary work, and was hired as a hum- Her assignments for Vogue continued ble cleaner at Farley Farm. Noting the dust- but she began developing them beyond covered boxes and boxes of forgotten neg- the brief, her eye firmly on the bigger picture. atives in the attic, she offered to create Mere days after D-Day, she was in France ‘contact’ sheets and it was only then that reporting on mobile hospital units; punchy, the true extent of the holdings were hard hitting features that ran in Vogue revealed – over 60,000 images. Carole alongside the usual fashion and society Callow has played an instrumental role in piffle. Miller was now providing words & formulating and cataloguing the vast range picture stories to great effect, alternating of subjects and locations and, effectively, Condé Nast commissions with others from in re-creating Miller’s place in 20th century the US Army PR machine. She had reportage photography. It would be fair to established an unassailable reputation. say that today she is the leading authority on Miller’s oeuvre and continues to be In typical Lee Miller fashion she connived responsible for creating modern prints to be in Paris at the Liberation and quickly and curating the vintage archives. looked up old acquaintances. She found Picasso in his studio at 7, rue des Grands- The success of any documentary Augustins (he had spent the war in photographer is to be in the right place at the city) and they renewed their close the right time, and if the technical quality of relationship – she snapped them both the image can match the content, then so embracing. In this crazy schizophrenic much the better. Lee Miller’s extraordinary time she was creating gritty war features personality placed her at the forefront of whilst receiving orders from London to many key political and social events of the
photograph the re-emergence of the haute 20th century; it is right and proper that couture fashion houses and their 1944 her contribution to both photography and 1 LEE MILLER Anthony Penrose & Paul Eluard 1951 Farley Farm, East Sussex ©Lee Miller Archive
new season designs! It did not take long for One of the images from the exhibition at the Lucy Bell Gallery, curated by Carole Callow, history has been recognised and preserved the maverick American to manipulate her- ‘Through the Eyes of Lee Miller’. for future generations to appreciate. self back into the front line armed only with her wits and trusted Rolleiflex. ( ‘Lee Miller’s hedonistic life in the Lee Miller’s war ended with experiences that would contaminate the rest of her life. 1930’s was the stuff of novels and She entered Dachau and Buchenwald incomprehensible to any ordinary person.’ concentration camps with the disbelieving ( American assault troops, taking a searing series of images of what she witnessed. By contrast, and on a lighter note, she she and Roland married after Aziz, ever Additionally, the years of craziness had found herself billeted in Hitler’s own generous, divorced her during a cordial taken their toll on her looks and health. apartments in Munich and was visit to London. She kept her sanity, not by photography, 1 TONY TREE Carole Callow 2012 photographed lounging in the Führer’s that she now eschewed, but by cooking, Lee Miller Archivist at Farley Farm ©Tony Tree bath, before moving onto Salzburg to watch With baby Tony in tow they sought and which she took up obsessively; and latterly his Berchtesgaden lair burn. The war was located a rural retreat (but near enough to classical music. And this was more or less f22 is grateful for the generous assistance over, and Lee returned to London in the channel ports to facilitate trips over to the pattern of her life until the fateful day of the Lee Miller Archive and Farley Farm triumph to be feted by Vogue executives. France) and Farley Farm became the family in 1976 when she was diagnosed with administration in the preparation of this feature. home. The East Sussex property became a cancer. Lee Miller died at Farley Farm on Predictably, Miller’s return to domesticity Mecca for artists and writers from all over the 21 July, 1977, aged 70. at Downshire Hill was a failure. After Europe – even Picasso famously visited – NOTES destructive arguments with Roland and this stable period is recorded as being 1. In the 1998 TV movie The Life of the Party: Penrose, she left for Paris and a spiralling one of Lee Miller’s most happy of times. ntil 21 April there is an The Pamela Harriman Story, Ann-Margret played the title role. 1 LEE MILLER Bird Feeding on Table 1936 married Aziz Eloui Bey and left to live in Cairo eventually parted with Aziz Eloui Bey Penrose at his Downshire Hill home. depressive state. But eventually she Today it is the home of the Lee Miller unusual exhibition of Lee Gezira Sporting Club, Cairo. ©Lee Miller Archive – forcing the studio to close, investors to behaving very generously over her betrayal. With characteristic swagger, she inveigled returned to him, after more hair-raising Archive and a ‘living museum’ that regularly Miller’s work at the Lucy Bell 2. In 2012 Farley Farm House will be open to the (3) lose their money and Erik his livelihood. The her way back into London Vogue’s studio, adventures in the Balkans, and some sort welcomes visitors by way of organised Gallery in St. Leonards . public on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month When asked to select a favourite photograph, idyll with Aziz lasted some three years before Lee Miller’s hedonistic life in the first unpaid, then as a staff member, but of family life was established. A hectic trip tours.(2) Unusual, because Miller (April to October) and on extra weekends during local archivist and leading authority on Lee Miller’s the psychological desire for Paris provoked a 1930’s was the stuff of novels and already aware that she was on the verge of to the USA together culminated in Miller’s exhibitions are invariably large arts festivals. The key rooms are explored with a work, Carole Callow, picked an image from an return to Europe. There she promptly met incomprehensible to any ordinary person, her greatest adventure yet. committing to Penrose and they returned to The latter years of Lee Miller’s life had scale events nowadays, more likely to be trained guide. The tour takes 50 minutes. U www.farleyfarmhouse.co.uk understated series taken in Egypt in the mid Roland Penrose, a Surrealist painter, poet and preoccupied as they were with the England to face the infamous winter of tragic overtones. Her depressive interludes seen at the V&A museum. This intimate 1930’s. This print is part of a special limited major promoter and collector of modern recession and the worsening political Some women are born with the ability to 1947. Miller had never stopped working finally demanded a withdrawal from Vogue selection of images, based on her 3. Lucy Bell Fine Art. 46 Norman Road. St Leonards on edition (of 10) boxed set of six photographs, art. Miller did return to Aziz temporarily, situation. But Lee was anything but wind men around their little fingers. It is not for Vogue and it was in the middle of an assignments, a relationship already relationship to Picasso and Sussex, Sea. East Sussex. TN38 0EJ. Through the Eyes of Lee currently available from the Archive. but Cairo society could not compete with the ordinary. When war was finally declared, necessarily to do with looks, although that assignment she discovered she was strained by the changing times, and as has been personally selected by Carole Miller. 20 March – 21 April 2012. avant-garde, art and Picasso, and they it found her in London living with never hurts, but it is an ingredient instantly pregnant. In a surprising yield to tradition, Roland’s star ascended, hers waned. Callow of the Lee Miller Archive. Carole’s www.lucy-bell.com
14 www.f22magazine.com www.f22magazine.com 15 PEOPLE GRACIELA SACCO
1 Esperando a los Bárbaros 2011 (Waiting for the Barbarians) Video-objet, digital frame and wooden collage Edition of 5 plus 2 Artist Proofs happens to the limits, the edges, ( 1 Houston 2004 ‘I am a free thinker. I am not part From the series Sombras del sur y del Norte: the frontiers of our lives?’ Sacco takes Línea de gente. Three pieces of transparent fabric printed images from the past in order to talk ( of the political party. I am a romantic!’ by heliography VOICES FROM THE STREET about the present. ‘I find images from the past because I can’t take them from the 5 Cuerpo a cuerpo 2011 From the series Tensión Admisible. TEXT CLAUDIA LOUISE AIRES Echoes from the Past re-mixed for the Future future. I don’t want to talk about the past. images from the Prague Spring and the White) is a type of self-portrait. The work Installation, photographic inlay on wood I am not a historian. The point is not where Intifada allow viewers from Rosario to was developed from repetitive observa- the photo comes from but what it means Israel to reflect on their own internal tions of fences and borders. Borders RACIELA SACCO, born in beyond the boundaries of the printed today.’ struggles. frequent Sacco’s work; her exploration Rosario, Argentina in 1956, page. ‘The human condition is my struggle,’ of boundaries and conflict constantly uses her photography to unite she says with controlled frustration. In Sacco’s 1996 series entitled Bocanada Graciela Sacco classifies herself as an grapple with the question of how the the will of the artist and the ‘I want to explore what has happened to (Mouthless) the mouth illustrates a artist, not just a photographer, and individual copes with tragedy and history of the viewer. Sacco the urban spaces around me. My struggle universal symbol. Sacco’s images of confidently declares that the camera is violence. believes her audience has is how to deal with what is changing in mouths that blossom from spoons, simply a means to best capture the ideas Gthe power to look into the various layers my social space, my circumstance.’ suitcases and postage stamps in her mind. Sacco’s modus operandi Graciela Sacco’s ability to involve social of her work and confront their own appropriate a human symbol with which identifies closely with Conceptualism. She themes within her work without becoming memories. ’My art operates with the Sacco’s technique is what William Fox everyone can identify. In Spanish, the believes it is the idea that becomes a overtly literal gives her a special place in object and the elements I use, which Talbot referred to as sun writing. She word bocanada is a paradox: it means machine which makes the art. ‘A photo is the Argentine’s contemporary art world. leads to interpretation,’ says Sacco. sensitises the surfaces of objects to have a mouth both full and empty. just a part in my work, it is not the goal.’ Her photography has been included in ‘It’s all about being open to what we see.’ with light-reactive chemicals in order Mouths that speak are also mouths that Sacco thinks about what she wants to do, major museums and galleries around the to register a photographic image. eat or are denied food. The mouth not what she can do. ‘The interpretation is world including Chile, Denmark, Brazil and
Before Sacco began to explore the innate Heliography specifically uses bitumen allows the whole world to engage with what I want,’ she says sincerely. ‘My work Spain. In 2003, she was awarded Artist
power of the photographic image, she (an asphalt-like substance) as a coating Sacco’s work. is not about my ego.’ She is constantly of the Year, granted by the Argentinian fantasised about becoming a lawyer. A that hardens when exposed to light. striving to comment on her own social Association of Art Critics. Her popularity lost application led to her mastery of the ( Sacco purposefully uses these very In El Inciendo y las Visperas, 1996 context, and for her, the idea and the is a testament to the universal nature visual arts instead –a blessing in ‘The point is not where the photo comes traditional methods in order to produce a (The Fire and its Aftermath) Sacco interpretation is everything. About her and relatability of conflict, borders and disguise. Just before the 1976 Argentine slightly blurred, vague picture of reality. appropriated a photograph of the May political orientation she declares: ‘I am a personal struggle. coup, when a military dictatorship ( from but what it means today’ 1968 demonstrations in Paris, exposed free thinker. I am not part of the political NOTES overthrew Isabel Peron, Graciela Sacco Whether it’s a suitcase, a spoon or a onto jagged wooden sticks. The image party. I am a romantic!’ Currently, Graciela Sacco lives and works Osborne Samuel Gallery. 23A Bruton Street, dropped out of school. ‘It was a horrible and upheaval. ‘It’s all political for me,’ she the North) emphasised what exists in the bunch of sticks, Sacco works with objects of conflict juxtaposed with the ragged in Argentina and Spain. In the UK, she has Mayfair, London W1J 6QG place to be,’ she admits. The conflict in says with a defiant tone. depths of the shadows, and questions that she believes will eventually disappear boundaries of the sticks speaks of the Sacco has also made installations and been exhibited by the Osborne Samuel her own country shaped Sacco’s work into what can and cannot be seen. Choosing to and become just a memory. ‘The objects current conflicts existing today and the video works over the last ten years. Her Gallery who have forged strong links with LINKS a powerful social commentary: how the Her 2005 series entitled Sombras del Sur expose images on suitcases, shoes and are a reflection of my own feelings. The rearrangement of borders by which all most recent video piece entitled Entre her work since 2002; showing it both in www.gracielasacco.net individual comes to terms with conflict y del Norte (Shadows from the South and acrylic panels, gives them an identity suitcase, the spoon... they ask, what individuals are confined. Sacco’s use of Blanco y Negro (Between Black and London and Art Miami, Florida. www.osbornesamuel.com
16 www.f22magazine.com www.f22magazine.com 17 EDITED BY MIKE VON JOEL
A celebration of the City of Light in words and pictures
1 Jean Claude Gautrand 1971 1 TOP 1 OVER Demolition of Baltard’s historic Les Halles. Jean Claude Gautrand 1981 Maurice Guibert 1894 View of Montmartre from the roof of Galeries Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in his favourite brothel A TALE OF LIFE & LOVE Lafayette, Boulevard Haussmann. with paintings and a ‘subject’ of his work. A celebration of the City of Light in words and pictures
OR ANYONE LIVING in Europe, the very modernisation of appalling slums, epitomised by daguerreotype was the Polaroid film of its day, imperative for visual artists living in Paris. And the Claude Gautraud and Benedikt Taschen. A massive Durandelle’s incomparable series depicting NOTES name Paris comes pre-loaded with the Marais, it had its raison d’etre in military Paris accidentally producing a one-off, unique image(2). Millions of earliest known ‘photograph’ in the world depicting 600+ pages founded on a selection of 500+ the construction stages of the Eiffel Tower, 1. Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. View from the Window at anticipation, romance and the scheming. The avenues and boulevards encircling created the most complete them were produced as this ‘magic’ image making people is of an 1838 street view in Paris.(4) images from over 150 celebrated photographers, photographed over 22 months in 1888/9. The Le Gras. Heliograph c.1826. possibilities of life itself. Never has the city centre, with their strategically placed process captured the public imagination. including Daguerre, Marville, Atget, Lartigue, unique essence of the city, that is still arguably the 2. Paper-based calotypes, introduced by Henry Fox one city been so endowed with a arsenals and barracks, enabled the rapid distribution photographic record of its The early association with the new art of photography, Brassaï, Kertész, Ronis, Doisneau and Cartier- true art and literary capital of the Western world, is Talbot in 1841, allowed the production of an unlimited universal and hypnotic memory for of cavalry and troops to quell the insurgencies for Another notable pioneer, Félix Nadar (Gaspard-Félix and its benevolent decision to make the process Bresson. Paris: Portrait of a City ably illustrates the distilled into this fine book and it is an intoxicating number of copies by simple contact printing, but the things past that have endured, unedited, into the which the French are famous; and helped prevent history possible... Tournachon), took his first photographs in 1853 ‘free to all mankind’, gave France – and thus Paris special relationship the French creatif has with the journey though its pages. An index of photographer extremely fine detail possible with a daguerreotype F (3) present. And for those whose passion is the Arts, the famous ‘barricades’ from blocking key access and, by way of being an avid balloonist , became – a unique advantage. Britain, via the experimental camera art. Perhaps it is encapsulated in the ‘gallic biographies is also included. was impossible. the metropolis remains a beacon of living history routes. Citizens watched with horror as whole the first person to take aerial photographs in 1858. work of Fox-Talbot, had disputed with France over shrug’, or what Cartier-Bresson called the ‘decisive Recommended. where virtually every street corner is alive with a swathes of medieval Paris were obliterated at the He also experimented with the use of artificial ligh- the ‘discovery’ of the photographic process, and, as moment’ but, whatever the intrinsic mind-set, the 3. Around 1863, Nadar built a huge (6000m³) balloon resonance of artists, writers, photographers, or behest of a small coterie of politicians and local ting in photography. Nadar’s famous studio was at a penalty, the British alone had to pay a ‘licence fee’ French appear to have a natural affinity with the named Le Géant (The Giant), thereby inspiring Jules performers of one kind or another. officials. Haussmann’s grand schemes incorporated permanent camera photograph in 1826(1), although 25 boulevard des Capucines, which he occupied for the usage of Daguerre’s method. This inhibited ‘candid image’ – now referred to as street Verne's Five Weeks in a Balloon. The Society for the public parks, sewers and water works, city these had both required long exposures. In 1829, from 1860. A meeting place for radical artists and the popular access enjoyed by French enthusiasts. photography – and over the years they have Encouragement of Aerial Locomotion by Means of Heavier than Air Machines was established, with Nadar In actual fact, the Paris of this collective (and facilities, public monuments and enabled the he formed a partnership with Louis Daguerre and writers, it also was the location for the first The result was that Paris accidentally created the produced many masters of the genre. as president and Verne as secretary. romanticised) memory is the Paris of Napoléon III street cafe culture for which Paris is now renowned. they began a series of experiments which would Impressionist exhibition of 1874 featuring thirty most complete photographic record of its history and Seine prefect, Baron Georges-Eugène lead to the daguerreotype. Although Niépce died in artists, amongst them: Monet, Morisot, Renoir, possible, beginning with that tentative 1838 Through the pages of Paris: Portrait of a City, PARIS: 4. Boulevard du Temple, taken by Louis Daguerre in late Haussmann. Created between 1853 and 1870, it is La Ville-Lumière (The City of Light), a reference to 1833, Daguerre himself secured a place in history Degas, Pissarro, Cézanne, Guillaumin and Sisley. capture of the bootblack and his client on the the world of the private artists’ studios, the grand PORTRAIT OF A CITY 1838 or early 1839, is an image of a busy street, but the capital of today, of wide boulevards and regular its early adoption of street lighting, has had a long by completing the work and making the crucial Although long exposures required the subject to Boulevard du Temple. Expositions, the famous dance halls and brothels, Jean Claude Gautrand because exposure time was over ten minutes the city architecture with uniform roof-lines and Neo- and fortuitous relationship with photography. discovery that an invisibly faint ‘latent’ image keep still – hence the accent on portraiture in early chic cafe society, and the giants of modern Taschen traffic was too mobile to appear. The exceptions are the Classical façades. Although presented to the Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor, had produced created by a much shorter exposure could be photography – the desire to record the people Paris has now been given the Taschen treatment literature, fashion and art, spring into life. HB. 624pp. £44.99 two people in the bottom left corner, one who stood astonished (and aghast) Parisiens as a sanitary the world's first heliograph in 1822 and the first chemically ‘developed’ into a visible image. The and the city itself was always a psychological with a comprehensive historical survey by Jean A highlight is the full size, double fold out of ISBN-13: 978-3836502931 still getting his boots polished by the other.
18 www.f22magazine.com www.f22magazine.com 19 EDITED BY MIKE VON JOEL
1 Shahidul Alam Dal Lake 2008 Srinagar, India 1 Jerome Liebling Butterfly Boy, New York 1949 Gelatin silver print ©Estate of Jerome Liebling 1 Robin Friend David Batchelor Hackney, London. 2011 1 Downtown Los Angeles. 1965 Hopper’s camera of choice at this time was the Nikon F loaded with Tri-X film. An ideal tool for street photography which performed well in low light conditions as well as sunlight. His street shots have been compared favourably toTHE Robert Frank’s seminal HONEST work: The Americans. EYE A ROOM WITH Documenting the Spirit of New York A POINT OF VIEW T COMES as no surprise that the exposure to what later became fascist apparatchiks of the US known as ‘McCarthyism’, not least a Does the workplace reflect the worker government – in the person of devastating betrayal by one member Tom C. Clark, attorney general – – Angela Calomiris – who was an and the work produced? included the Photo League in its undercover FBI agent otherwise list of proscribed organisations tasked to infiltrate the Communist N 1965, a large format book appeared world and the reader is left in no doubt Iissued in 1947. The hysteria of the Party of the USA. Nevertheless, the about the British art world called that art is one of today’s major commercial embryonic Cold War polarised calibre of the League membership Private View. Authored by top dogs activities. It is light years away from the America and ‘subversive element’ and its supporters ensured that of the day, John Russell and Bryan earnest simplicity recorded back in was a catch-all appendage to the their work was recognised Robertson, it was illustrated with 1965. Incorporating essays from Iwona usual ranting about Communists and internationally and its influence on photographs by très-chic Vogue Blazwick, Richard Cork and Tom Morton, radical thinkers. A review of the future generations was profound, Isnapper, Lord Snowdon(1), some of the with excellent photography by Robin antics of the Department Homeland not least by Robert Frank’s 1958 best pictures he has ever taken. Today Friend, Sanctuary is a worthy addition to Security today might well lead the seminal study, The Americans, now this seminal archive is a much sought the mass of contemporary documents casual observer to think that little regarded as a pivotal documentary after collectors’ item. The formula of that are destined to become important has changed in 60 years. But why photo work and harbinger of the artists-in-their-own-words and showing archives for researchers of the future. include a collective of documentary 1 Ruth Orkin New York School. them in their private, creative Thames & Hudson have a solid history 1 Shahidul Alam Ilish Fishing 2011 1 Shahidul Alam Ship Breaking Worker 2008 Chittagong, Bangladesh Boy Jumping into Hudson photographers that had been in River 1949 Gelatin silver print environment was an outstanding of excellent, cutting edge visual arts existence a mere ten years? © Estate of Ruth Orkin success, and it is surprising that it publishing, not least with their support The work of these photographers has not been duplicated until now. of street art and graffiti, and this is no promote all aspects of its programming, white – where he includes his colour By 1947, the Photo League Many of the members were first has been collected and revised by exception. A fascinating opportunity to is revelatory; as is Alam’s analysis of work (and the colours of Asia are had matured into a group of generation Jewish immigrants and Mason Klein and Catherine Evans There have, of course, been numerous peek behind the scenes into the private the way donor NGO’s manipulate public legendary) the pictures are so very dedicated professional and amateur had a natural empathy for the in The Radical Camera. Although books with photographic portraits of world of the art professional. sympathies with carefully selected much more accomplished and dynamic. photographers whose accent was on underclass of urban America. The the images speak eloquently for artists, but their location has been imagery (shot primarily by white, male However, Rosa Maria Falvo (curator, and social realism and candid reflections pictures created by the Photo themselves, the authoritative texts incidental to the imaging process. Now, NOTES TO BOLDLY GO photographers). In response, Alam Skira’s international commissioning of urban life in New York City. It had, League artists confronted America put the New York situation into Sanctuary: Britain’s Artists and their 1. In 2007, Pallant House Gallery showed a founded Majority World, a global initiative editor) has created a heart-warming however, its origins in 1930’s Berlin how it was, not how some Norman context and ably record the socialist Studios revisits the Private View model in selection of these photographs, In Camera Images with real meaning to provide a platform for indigenous tribute to a talented lensman and and the Workers International Relief, Rockwell cover for Life magazine impetus of the collective, and thus a greatly expanded arena, where young – Snowdon, curated by Robin Muir, photographers to gain access to global sincere human being. The affectionate a decidedly Communist association. would have some believe it to its challenge to the rightwing politics artists are household names and many including some rare alternative images not HAHIDUL ALAM’s first Photographic Society; founder of the the struggle of his own people for image markets. introduction by Sebastião Salgado The Photo League in New York was be. The impoverished Black of the period. have achieved a populist ‘star’ rating – in the original Private View monograph is both a photo Drik picture library, 1998; director of the independence and freedom from only reinforces the high esteem in committed to ‘honest’ photography communities, trapped in inner city directly in proportion (of course) to their (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons Ltd. documentary and personal festival of photography in Asia; jury repression. His views on the flow of aid For those not familiar with Shahidul which Shahidul Alam is held by the and showing the real life struggles ghettoes, are portrayed with quiet auction prices. And the lavish studio 298 pp.) diary that traces his activities member of World Press Photo; recipient to the sub-continent, and the reliance Alam’s tireless striving to redeem the international photographic community. of ordinary American workers. It also dignity; the poor areas appear stark, spaces they inhabit also tend to reflect as one of Asia’s most of the prestigious Mother Jones Award of the ‘aid business’ on pictures to people of Bangladesh and dispel the offered a place where artists could soulless and menacing; whilst the THE RADICAL CAMERA this elevated status. However, the prominent photographic for Documentary Photography, the perception that the nation is solely meet, work and socialise. In the higher echelons of New York society NEW YORK'S PHOTO strength of Sanctuary is the considered Ssuperstars. Alam (born 1955, in Andrea Frank Foundation Award and ‘The photographs one of poverty, corruption and natural SHAHIDUL ALAM: 1940’s it attracted support from often seem slightly preposterous LEAGUE, 1936-1951 interview format (short questions, plenty Dhaka, Bangladesh) originally studied the Howard Chapnick Award; Honorary disasters, this book will be inspirational. MY JOURNEY AS A some of the great names in the with their affectations – all set Mason Klein, of space for the replies) by Hossein SANCTUARY: BRITAIN’S chemistry in London but gravitated to Fellowship of the Royal Photographic are intimate and The photographs are intimate and WITNESS photographic canon, amongst them: against a backdrop of concrete Catherine Evans Amirsadeghi. Here insights are plentiful ARTISTS AND THEIR STUDIOS photography in 1980, enjoying a meteoric Society in 2001 – the list seems endless. created with a penetrating eye. Rosa Maria Falvo (editor) Berenice Abbott, Margaret Bourke- canyons and the cacophony of Jewish Museum/Yale and not a few preconceptions and Ed. Hossein Amirsadeghi rise to prominence: the Harvey Harris The texts in My Journey as a Witness created with a Ironically, Alam has been seduced by Skira Editore White, W. Eugene Smith, Richard billboard advertising. Hb. 224 pp. 150 duo prejudices are corrected. Established Thames & Hudson Trophy for best photographer of the year, also reveal a man deeply committed to the received wisdom that documentary Hb. 272 pp. £32 Avedon, Weegee, Robert Frank, Ansel Despite a spirited defence, the +76 mono illus. £35 faces are mixed with lesser known Hb. 600pp 600 col illus. £48 1983; president of the Bangladesh social and political issues, especially penetrating eye.’ photojournalism should be black and ISBN: 978-8857209661 Adams, Edward Weston and Minor White. Photo League were crushed by their ISBN: 978-0300146875 players in the contemporary British art ISBN 13: 978-0500977071
20 www.f22magazine.com www.f22magazine.com 21 The Instant Garden/Lisa Creagh 0)32')6%4,%)0%+&3(.f0399RXMXPIH (IXEMP 4LSXSKVETLMG'4VMRX
5th May - 9th June 0ISRGI6ETLEIP%KFSHNIPSY[MPPFIMRXLIYTGSQMRK I\LMFMXMSREXXLI7EEXGLM+EPPIV] Lucy Bell Fine Art. 46 Norman Road 3YX3J*SGYW4LSXSKVETL]XL%TVMPRH.YP] St Leonards on Sea. TN38 0EJ LUCY BELL www.lucy-bell.com [email protected] FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY 01424 434828 Open Wed-Sat or by Appt. GALLERY & AGENCY -$&.%(//*$//(5< 1EWSRW=EVH0SRHSR7;=&98IP
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Julia Margaret Cameron (1815–79), Circe, About 1865, Albumen print ** Offer not applicable to Olympus E-PL1. ** Offer le, referring to E-P3, Olympus Inhouse Test, June 2011. to E-P3, Olympus Inhouse Test, le, referring * Data on fi
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