If you have a passion for photography, you are in for a treat as our great city celebrates photography through three major exhibitions that bring together works of world renowned artists. Their iconic works capture historic moments in our lives, document key changes in social behaviour and show how we make use of photography to interract with each other to communicate and share our feelings.
The three exhibitions illustrate photography as an art form that combines technology, creativity and emotion in a way that is uniquely powerful and profoundly beautiful. It shows that photography is more than just a technical skill; it’s an art form that captures the essence of a moment and the soul of the subject. Photography doesn’t just capture an image of what we can see – it is about interpreting the world through the camera lens and sharing that vision with others.
Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography
The King’s Galleries in London, previously known as The Queen’s Galleries, reopened this season with a new exhibition: Royal Portraits: A Century of Photography. This exhibition showcases the evolution of royal portrait photography from the 1920s to the present day, featuring over 150 original prints, proofs, and documents from the Royal Collection and the Royal Archives.
The exhibition highlights the role of photography in shaping the public image of the Royal Family in the last century, displaying works by renowned photographers like Cecil Beaton, Dorothy Wilding, Annie Leibovitz, and Rankin. Showcasing archival documents and unreleased proofs that reveal the behind-the-scenes processes of royal portrait commissioning, it aims to provide insight into the stories behind some of the most iconic photographs ever taken of the Royal Family.
Visitors are given the opportunity to explore the changing status of photography as an art form and the cultural, artistic and technological shifts that have influenced the way royal photographers captured the emotional essence of their subjects. The exhibition runs until 6 October 2024. Visit The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace website. The Royal Collection Trust introduced a new scheme offering £1 tickets to those receiving Universal Credit and other benefits. Standard tickets purchased directly from the Trust can be converted into a 1-Year Pass for free re-entry for 12 months.
Beyond Fashion
Saatchi Gallery’s Summer 2024 season is set to be a visual feast with “Beyond Fashion,” an exhibition that transcends the traditional realms of fashion photography. Curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer and featuring over 100 images from 48 visionary photographers, this exhibition is another celebration of photography as an art form.
Organised into four main sections the event celebrates the timeless beauty (Allure), creative inventiveness (Fantasy) street style’s raw edge (Realism) and imaginative transformation (Surrealism) through timeless pieces from photographers like Nick Knight, Peter Lindbergh, Viviane Sassen, Paolo Roversi, Miles Aldridge, Ellen von Unwerth, and some of the emerging artists in fashion photography.
Beyond Fashion celebrates the vision and creativity of photographer artists and image-makers and documents how fashion photography has become a new and exciting visual language. Presented in the context of the 40th anniversary year of London Fashion Week this is an occasion to honour the entire community that drives innovation in the fashion industry and beyond.
Beyond Fashion is open to the public from 31 May until 8 September 2024. Visit this website to plan your visit. Saatchi Gallery will present a number of Saatchi Lates from 6:30pm – 9pm on selected Fridays. Tickets include access to special Beyond Fashion-themed activities and workshops, the main exhibition and ground-floor shows.
Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection
This event is a photographic odyssey through strength and vulnerability. “Fragile Beauty,” a major exhibition on loan from the esteemed private collection of Sir Elton John and David Furnish. With over 300 rare prints from 140 photographers, the exhibition is a curated journey through the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st.
The collection, selected from over 7,000 images, is a breathtaking array of photography’s greatest hits and hidden gems, covering the period from 1950 to the present day. It brings together an unrivalled selection of the world’s leading photographers, telling the story of modern and contemporary photography through their lenses. Celebrated works include a monumental installation of 149 Nan Goldin prints from her Thanksgiving series, as well as iconic images from Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, William Eggleston, Diane Arbus, Sally Mann, Zanele Muholi, Ai Weiwei, Carrie Mae Weems and others. It’s a celebration of photography’s ability to document, to express, and to move.
Marking 30 years of collecting, the exhibition is a celebration of Sir Elton John and David Furnish’s passion for photography and their unique eye as collectors. Across eight thematic sections, “Fragile Beauty” explores themes such as fashion, reportage, celebrity, the male body and American photography. Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection runs until 5 January 2025. Visit Victoria & Albert Museum website to plan your visit.
Photographs have the power to transcend time, to become historical documents, treasured memories and works of art that can be appreciated for generations. The art of photography is about creating lasting images that tell the stories of our lives, our societies and our world.
Photography is an art that requires passion, patience, and practice. It’s a journey of constant learning and growth. Whether you’re a professional or an enthusiast, the art of photography is a rewarding pursuit that can bring a new perspective to the way you see the world.
The world-rennouned photographers celebrated by those three events show how mastering the art of photography leads to the ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, to find the beauty in the mundane, and to tell a story without words.
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