DIFFERENT WORLDS, SIMILAR DREAMS

Erwitt Wyoming Steam Train.jpg

A show of photographs at Somerset House in London offers a century's worth of arresting images, writes Helena Douglas ...

Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE
 
The centrepiece of “A Positive View”, a charity exhibition that recently opened at London’s Somerset House, is a large photographic diptych of the portraits of two men. Both are dressed in black. Both have sparkling eyes and mischievous smiles. The man on the left is older, bearded and wearing a jaunty cap, the one on the right is youthful and intense. The portraits are compositionally stark, with skilful lighting, muted tones and pale grey backdrops.
 
The men are Prince William, heir to the British throne and patron of “A Positive View”, and Jeff Hubbard, a formerly homeless man who was recently trained as a photographer thanks to a programme run by Crisis, a British charity for the homeless. They took photographs of each other, marking the first time that an official royal portrait was taken by a member of the public. The results, shot under the guidance of Rankin, a renowned British photographer, place the two subjects on an even plane.
 
Now in its third year, “A Positive View” features over 100 works donated by photographers, which will then be sold to raise funds for Crisis. The brainchild of Andrew Page, a former advertising director and now Crisis’s director of fundraising, the exhibition will culminate in an auction at Christie’s on April 15th.
 
Given the source of the works, some sprawl in subject and style is inevitable. The show’s organisers have used this to their advantage, cleverly bringing different worlds into dialogue with each other. High-end fashion shots rub frames with punchy street portraits. Landscapes hang alongside still-lifes. Portraits contrast with grim reportage. These juxtapositions have been used to powerful effect.
 
The big names are all here, along with a wealth of memorable images. Among them are “Wyoming, 1954”, a powerful landscape by Elliott Erwitt, a Magnum photographer (pictured top); the dreamy “Queen Charlotte’s Ball” (pictured above) by Henri Cartier-Bresson; “Kate”, a famous 1990 portrait of Kate Moss by Corinne Day (pictured below); and “Tuberous Begonia, New York”, a rare still life by Irving Penn, an American portrait photographer (and the subject of a retrospective at London’s National Portrait Gallery, reviewed here).
 
The exhibition also showcases work from beyond Europe and America, including thought-provoking images by Korean, Chinese and African photographers. Of these, the most engaging is “Amis des Espagnoles”, a 1968 group portrait of four men in loud shirts and white trousers, by Malick Sidibe, a Malian photographer and winner of the Golden Lion at the 2007 Venice Biennale. The image feels playful, at once contrived and vital.
 
Despite all the glitz, Nadim Samman, the show’s curator, has kept the issue of homelessness in view throughout. Robert Polidori’s photographs of houses destroyed by Hurricane Katrina evoke the ephemeral security of home-owners. Even more arresting are the works of five homeless photographers trained by Crisis. Their documentation of lives lived on the streets forces viewers to consider their world, one that is otherwise conveniently invisible. Stella Lado Joseph’s “Corridor (from Sheltered Prison series)” portrays the hopelessness and helplessness of those on the margins of society, whereas Paul Kelly’s images of a scarred man and bruised woman reveal the fundamental despair and vulnerability of life lived rough. (Kelly has called this work “Fifty Pence Diptych”, a play on the title of Andreas Gursky’s “99 Cent II (Diptych)", one of the most valuable photographs in the world.)
 
In the glamorous atmosphere of Somerset House, and amid photos of models and cities and beauty, it is these photographs by and of the homeless that remind viewers of the power of the medium to stun and reveal. 
 
“A Positive View” is at Somerset House, London, until April 6th. The auction of work will be held at Christie’s, King Street, London, on April 15th in aid of Crisis. A book of the exhibition is available from www.amazon.co.uk
 
 
Picture credit: Elliott Erwitt, "Wyoming, Steam-train Press, 1954", © Elliott Erwitt, courtesy of HackelBury Fine Art; Henri Cartier-Bresson, "Queen Charlotte's Ball", London, 1959 © Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson, courtesy of HackelBury Fine Art; Corinne Day, Kate, 1990 , © Corinne Day, courtesy Corinne Day

 

Arts  Art  london  photography  

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affection

March 18, 2010 - 21:06 — Visitor (not verified)

life is beautiful, and we should help people in need, so that we have an even brighter life

Helena Douglas article in Germany

June 3, 2010 - 03:46 — Juli (not verified)

Wow, this is a beautiful picture from Helena Douglas, she has some great talent. In the German Newspapers there was recently a article about her Art and relationship to fashion and shoes, which said that has a really big shoes collection and draws a lot of her inspiration. Bit strange article but she has great Talent.

This is an excerpt of the newspaper Article
"Helena Douglas eine berühmte Künstler aus den USA ist bekannt für ihre schönen Bilder, aber auch für ihre große Marken Schuhe Kollektion, die sich in ihrem Haus befindet. Neben den Schuhen und der Mode spielt Kunst eine große Rolle für Helena Douglas."