The exhibition is organised in six sections, each dealing with a different theme. The first is nature, protagonist and source of inspiration – even to the extent of influencing technique as in the case of the early images by Anna Atkins, where plants are directly pressed onto photo-sensitive paper and then exposed to the light.
Exploding the myth that still life photography comes from behind the closed doors of the photographer’s studio are the shots taken in the street or inside apartments – where glimpses, compositions and situations abound waiting only to be observed by a thoughtful eye: André Kertesz and Henri Cartier-Bresson are masters of this genre, as are more recently Lee Friedlander and William Eggleston.
Design and intention are always present, when an object is shot alongside a person, it is difficult that it is a coincidence. Or if it is, it is rare that its consequences are not evaluated before the shot. An everyday object can be enough to subtly suggest something of the status and personality of the subject. In 1963, Lewis Morley, trying to find a way of photographing Christine Keeler nude without overstepping contractual boundaries, resolved the problem with the use of an object: the chair on which the model was seated serves both to hide as well as provoke.
“The show explores one of photography’s earliest and most fertile subjects” explains curator Mark Haworth- Booth. “It also enables us to help a new generation of gallery-goers to navigate through the great photographic processes, periods and styles and to see the work of many of the most original talents in the medium, and to get a sense of the wonderful resources for the study and enjoyment of photography at the V&A”.
fino a 18.8.2002
Seeing Things: Photographing Objects - 1850-2001
Victoria & Albert Museum, The Canon Photography Gallery, Londra
http://www.vam.ac.uk
