Blumenfeld Studio: New York, 1941–1960 – Somerset House

By Tori On May 23, 2013 · Add Comment

23.05.13 – 01.09.13

Erwin Blumenfeld © Erwin Blumenfeld

Somerset House

Strand
London
WC2R 1LA

Opening Times: 10.00-18.00 (Last admission 17.30)

East Wing Galleries, East Wing

Admission: Free

Further Information: 020 7845 4600/ info@somersethouse.org.uk

“I use a trick to soften the models face just before photographing her. I ask her, ‘Will you marry me?’ It’s the one formula that makes the American women tick” BBC Four – The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women.

One of the greatest and highest paid fashion photographers of the 20th century is finally being credited for his incredibly creative and innovative eye. Erwin Blumenfeld’s exquisite work has resurfaced and is now receiving it’s well deserved recognition. Today an exhibition at Somerset House of Blumenfeld’s studio work from his prolific career spanning 35 years, honours his most successful period, from 1941 – 1960.

Blumenfeld was one of the most internationally sought-after portrait and fashion photographers in the 1940s and 1950s. America’s leading magazines, including Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar hired him for his imaginative and highly individual shots. The show at Somertset House focuses on the little-known history of his photography studio at 222 Central Park South in New York. Around 100 colour photographs and originals of Erwin Blumenfeld’s works in fashion magazines provide insights into this key artistic phase in his life.

However funnily enough Blumenfeld’s first job had nothing to do with photography, he began his career working as an apprentice dressmaker, he opened his own company in Amsterdam in 1923, a leather goods store specialising in ladies handbags that went bankrupt in 1935. After this period he went on to work for Vogue Paris and then for Vogue NY, which in turn made Erwin Blumenfeld at the time one of the highest paid fashion photographers in the world and still to this has photographed more covers for Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar than any other living photographer.

Yet sadly since his forced upon death in 1969, he has been least remembered in comparison with renowned names of today such as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Cecil Beaton and William Klein.

Erwin Blumenfeld © Erwin Blumenfeld

Blumenfeld left behind an expansive collection of 30,000 transparencies and more than 150 collages, many of which have never been published or seen by the public. Which makes it all the more remarkable that the grandchildren, Remy and his cousins, Yvette Blumenfeld-Georges and Nadia Blumenfeld-Charbit, have worked together to create this wonderful exhibition at Somerset House.

As well as this Blumenfeld-Charbit and Remy are also in the progress of working on an insightful website (erwinblumenfeld.com, which is due to go live at the end of May). This will contain hundreds of images from each period of Blumenfeld’s photographic career, including early experiments and the Dadaist collages to his films which he worked on into the 1960s. Plus links to museums and publications and a discussion forum.

The show is due to run on until the 1st of September, displaying some of Blumenfeld’s most impressive work. Whether you are new to his photographs or not this is a must see exhibition which is bound to inspire and excite you!

Erwin Blumenfeld © Erwin Blumenfeld

Information: Somerset House

BBC Four – The Man Who Shot Beautiful Women

Saul Leiter - Taxi, New York 1957 © Saul Leiter

Saul Leiter in Conversation with Vince Aletti – School of Visual Arts Theatre

By Tori On May 20, 2013 · Add Comment

Wednesday 22.05.13

SVA (School of Visual Arts) Theatre

333 West 23rd Street, New York, United States

Opening Time: 7pm

Admission: Free and open to the public

Telephone: 212.592.2980

RSVP: info@deardavemagazine.com

“I spent a great deal of my life being ignored. I was always very happy that way. Being ignored is a great privilege. That is how I think I learnt to see what others do not see and to react to situations differently. I simply looked at the world, not really prepared for anything.”

On Wednesday the 22nd of May photographer Saul Leiter, who is best known for his colour photography, will be discussing his photographic work with Vince Aletti, an accomplished photography critic and reviewer for the New Yorker, at the School of Visiual Arts Theatre.

Leiter’s photographic journey began when he started recording moments of urban life in both colour and black & white in the 1940s New York. Yet having had no formal training his early work was quickly spotted by Edward Steichen, resulting in two significant MoMA shows in the 1950s. Only over the last few years has Leiter received recognition for his role as one of the pioneers of colour photography, as he was one of the first, alongside photographers like William Eggleston and Stephen Shore to use colour photography for artistic work.

In a Lens Culture article about Saul Leiter it revealed some interesting stories about this photographer: At the press conference in Paris, Leiter confided that he often purchased inexpensive colour film that was past its expiration date: he loved to be surprised by the odd shifts in colour that would result. He also told funny stories about Robert Frank and his friend Diane Arbus. “Robert complained to me one morning over breakfast at the L&M that he was going back to Switzerland because there was nothing interesting to photograph in America!” (at this point Leiter pauses to laugh) “Then he went out and made The Americans!” Leiter also recounted how he turned down Steichen’s invitation to participate in the now-famous Family of Man exhibition: “It seemed to me that that exhibition was less about photography, and more about things that I wasn’t sure of.”

This talk is presented by Dear Dave, magazine as part of their ongoing series of conversations on contemporary photography.

Information: School of Visual Arts

The Man who Shot Beautiful Women – Erwin Blumenfeld – BBC Four

By Tori On May 19, 2013 · Add Comment

January 26, 1897 - July 4, 1969

Erwin Blumenfeld - Self Portrait New York, 1950 © Erwin Blumenfeld

BBC Four has put together an exciting documentary about the legendary experimental and innovative fashion photographer, Erwin Blumenfeld, revealing the gripping and shocking story about him.

Airing at 9.00pm tonight the documentary goes through the journey of the photographer, who survived two world wars to become one of the world’s most highly-paid fashion photographers and a key influences on the development of photography as an art form. Yet after a mysterious death in Rome in 1969 his name is said to be little-known today, the reasons for which lie in his unconventional lifestyle.

This will be the first ever film made about his life and work which uses exclusive access to Blumenfeld’s extensive archive of stunning photographs, fashion films, home-movies and self-portraits to tell of a man obsessed by the pursuit of beautiful women, but also by the endless possibilities of photography itself.

With contributions from leading photographers such as Rankin, Nick Knight and Solve Sundsbo and 82-year-old supermodel Carmen Dell’Orefice, it uncovers the richly complex story of one of the 20th century’s most original photographic artists.

Credits: Narrator: Erin O’Connor, Producer: Remy Blumenfeld, Director: Nick Watson, Executive Producer: Michael Poole

Information: BBC

(Post to follow about the upcoming exhibition at Somerset House)

Dan Wood: Hiatus – Film’s not Dead Printroom

By Tori On May 18, 2013 · Add Comment

03.06.13 – 25.06.13

Dan Wood - Fish stall, Vietnam © Dan Wood Film’s not Dead

13 Mount Pleasant, London, WC1X 0AR

Opening Times: Monday – Friday 11.00 – 6.00

Closed – Saturday & Sunday

Admission: FREE

For any further information: info@filmsnotdead.com

“First thing that comes to mind is ‘Hiatus’ as I had grown up working in the family business and I started to break away when I discovered travel. So more and more I started taking long breaks from work to go travelling.”

We are very pleased and excited to announce that the second show in our new space is Dan Wood’s insightful yet gritty street photography, running from the 3rd of June until the 25th of June.

We first encountered Wood’s work right at the beginning of our journey, infact he won one of our first ever competitions. As we have progressed we’ve followed the work along the way and now we are very proud to be able to display Dan Wood’s first solo show in London, at the Film’s not Dead Printroom. This is an absolute honour for us, secretly I think we all yearn to work as hard as Dan Wood, he has been and still is a photographic inspiration for many. A true photographer.

Not only does he manage to capture fantastic street scenes from around the world, he ties this in with a sensitive approach to perhaps overlooked objects, and all of this is held together by his amazing printing. A man who makes his own prints is a man that knows what it is to understand light, whether it be capturing or distributing, Dan Wood is that man. His Photographs/prints dance over the lines of classic reportage and fine art, exactly what you would expect from somebody who controls every aspect of their process.

Dan Wood - China © Dan Wood

The show will display a wide variety of Dan’s work, from his travels across the world depicting people, life and scenes that he’s encountered on Hiatus. The exhibition will be a small but an exquisite hang of 20 16×12 prints, of course all hand printed by the man himself.

“I was born in Bridgend, South Wales 1974, where I still live to this day, working from my home based studio/darkroom. I have always been dedicated to black and white photography using film and traditional methods. I have not been swayed by the digital revolution, if anything, it has confirmed my loyalty to film. For me, it is in the darkroom where the work of the artist meets the work of the artisan. Personally I feel it is this that sets the traditional photographer apart from the modern day digital photographer.”

To see more photographs from Dan Wood please click Here

What is Welsh – Dan Wood / Featured Photographer – Dan Wood

Nobuyoshi Araki – Michael Hoppen Gallery

By Tori On May 15, 2013 · Add Comment

02.05.13 – 08.06.13

Michael Hoppen Gallery
3 Jubilee Place,
London SW3 3T

Opening Times: Monday-Friday: 10.30am – 6pm
Saturday: 10.30am – 5pm
Sunday: Closed

Admission: Free

For Further information: +44 (0)20 7352 3649/contemporary@michaelhoppengallery.com

“…the time when a picture is taken is like an emotion, it’s like a sexual encounter. It’s like a fuck! So, timing is very important.”

We are delighted to see that the Michael Hoppen Contemporary gallery is currently showing the often shocking and yet beautifully composed photographs by the acclaimed Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, who has been capturing women for now 40 years whose work is consistently criticised/discussed as sexist, degrading and on the verge of pornographic.

Michael Hoppen Gallery will this year stage major solo shows of two of its grand masters: Nobuyoshi Araki and later in the year, Miyako Ishiuchi. Each an artist with a unique vision and aesthetic, both producing highly charged work in examining the sensitive subjects of that society.

Araki is the king of provocation. In a very particular – and arguably peculiar – way he has made the subject his own. And here we celebrate those images from his most controversial body of work, Kinbaku, the Japanese art of bondage. Kinbaku-bi meaning literally the beauty of tight binding. And yes, though strong and offensive to some, disturbing to others, the pictures are often beautiful.

Araki’s other great obsession, which he started photographing as a schoolboy, is the traditional districts of Tokyo. In his mind the two – the women and the city – seem to be inextricably linked as themes. He has often spoken of his fascination with beginnings, the idea of the womb, and his desire to uncover that which society seeks to conceal. Sex, death and the transitory nature of life are the ideas that persist throughout his work.

Unashamedly, proudly Araki challenges the social mores of his home country and especially its censorship laws. With this in mind, alongside his kinbaku works (recently published in a de-luxe edition by Taschen), the gallery is also displaying alongside original 18th and 19th C Japanese Shunga prints – an early form of covertly distributed erotica. These are exquisite woodblock engravings. Highly prized and brilliantly coloured Shunga prints are found internationally in important public and private collection. The British Museum in London is staging a major survey show this autumn.

Araki has spoken of the influence of Shunga on his work: “I’d like to take photos similar to Shunga, but I haven’t reached that level yet. There is bashfulness in Shunga. The genitals are visible, but the rest is hidden by the kimono. In other words, they don\’t show everything. They are hiding a secret.”

Displayed alongside these woodcuts some of the parallels with Araki’s own aesthetic will be clear, such as in the colourful, luxurious Kimonos and the traditional Japanese settings. This exhibition, uniting these two – the high drama of the large, colourful photographs and the intricate, fine details of the small clandestine erotica engravings – will, we hope, appeal to the private passions of an eclectic mix of people.

This exhibition runs in conjunction with the release of ‘Nobuyoshi Araki. Bondage’ by Taschen – available from their store at the following address: Taschen 12 Duke of York Square London SW3 4LY 02078810795

Information: Michael Hoppen Gallery

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