A short one today, seeing as it keeps getting put on the back burner, and Amsterdam was like a whole month ago now (HOW did that happen...)
On recommendation from Barbara, our last exhibition was the Helmut Newton retrospective at foam. Although we love fashion and clothes and photography, we hadn't initially thought of visiting, but we were glad we did; not only did we escape the torrential rain for an hour or so, it was also beautifully curated, and radically different to photography exhibitions I had visited before. The last fashion photography exhibition I had visited was the Horst retrospective at the V&A a few years back, and thinking about the two exhibitions in comparison, representing two different eras of fashion and two different styles, I felt like the way foam displayed the work was totally reflective of the content and the themes they were trying to draw. Whereas Horst was perhaps more chronological in their method of display (obviously reflective of the type of museum the V&A is, and what the audience perhaps expected), it was clear that foam was aiming for a more in-depth, critical approach, treating the exhibition format more like a research process.
Saying that, it did have a bit of chronology, obviously because its a retrospective. But what they did pick out was Newton's commentary of the female body, and I particularly liked the later rooms, when it was clear that Newton had more to say using his photography. I really admired the filmic appeal of his work, the way he captured movement and illusion in his work. I loved the series', where they photography was less about the physical 'fashion' (as in the garments) and more about the model, the muses, the people who were the mannequins. It was clear that he had had that in mind - it was especially clear with his series of dummies, dressed and lit like 'real' women, so that the viewer would double-take on what they had seen. They also showed the documentary 'Helmut by June' (which I keep meaning to watch in full), which revealed his thinking and day-to-day process, and also showed that he wasn't a complete pervert, which one could easily assume from his super sexually-charged images.
It also made me really interested in June Browne, or Alice Springs as her artist name, who was Newton's partner in life and also in work. She was herself an established artist working in fashion photography, and the documentary made me interested in their influences on each other, as the theme from my previous posts about Rietveld and Van der Rohe. The exhibition also featured pieces of Newton's work that revolved around their personal life, such as this portrait below of June, beautifully lit and gorgeously framed. The colours of the walls, changing through the different themes and rooms, brought the photographs to life while also setting the stage of the era that it revolves around. The women, particularly towards the end of the exhibition, and the later work of Newton, feel strong, empowered, and exude a sensual strength that I hadn't seen before. The exhibition framed the women captured as active agents, and I was pretty convinced.
The exhibition ended with the famous 'Big Nudes' printed gloriously 'life size' as a final nod to women, groups of women who were unashamedly naked and strong. It was clear that the models and Newton worked exceptionally hard to create these images, of which some were an attempt to create the exact same image with clothing and without. Imagine trying to do this in film, its just a feat of repetition!
I was thoroughly impressed with this exhibition, and could have stayed for even longer had it not been lunchtime (we were really, really hungry). If you're in Amsterdam, go check it out, not only is the work on display fantastic, the curation is top-notch with (thank god) really engaging captions and texts. Thanks Barbara for the tip!
