Victoria and Albert Museum.
Horst.
Horst.
In order to further understand photographs and the reasons behind photographs it is a good idea to visit places where photographs are stored and appraised. One of the most popular places for this, is the V&A museum in London, with it's many permanent and temporary exhibits. For example the Horst exhibition open in the year 2014, Which featured many of Horsts works, ranging between many different genres and styles. Firstly, Surrealism. Horst’s photographs of this period feature mysterious, whimsical and surreal elements combined with his classical design. This image (shown to the right) is synonymous with the surrealist style, with its eerie and ambiguous purpose, unleashing the subconscious onto a page. This image is very flowing, and he shared with the Surrealists a fascination with the representation of the female body, often fragmenting and eroticising the human form in his images.
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Secondly, Fashion in colour. Due to technological advances fashion photography took great advantage of coloured images, and Horst was no stranger to it either. His innovative use of this advance involved using eye catching colour schemes in order to create meaning and symmetry in his images. The image to the right is a great example of this. Horst immediately draws the eye to the unexpected and unusual red ball at the end of the woman's legs, this not only draws attention to the beautiful lines that are created by the shape of her body, but also connotes a playful atmosphere. The contrast with the white background and cream and white clothing with the very vivid shade of the ball adds to this effect. Seeing these images is very rare, as they had to be taken using a complex old camera. This meant that one large square of film was inserted and exposed for around three seconds, this was the one copy of the image that then had to be developed immediately. This meant that a lot of pressure was placed on that image being perfect, resulting in meticulous planning of the composition.
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Another was 'Stage and Screen'. Horst’s portraits spanned a wide cross-section of subjects, from artists and writers to presidents and royalty. During this time the dwindling influence and popularity of royal families in Europe and the state the world was left in after the war, meant that the general public as in desperate need of some form of escapism, which film provided. Horst saw this as a perfect outlet for his creative energy, and began to photograph these new celebrities both in costume and their own attire. This beautiful image consists of three parts: firstly the grey backdrop, then the curved surface (common in the modernist movements) and finally the actress. This woman's body language suggests some form of longing or lament, as does the way only her face is lit from above. This draws attention to her expression and has connotations of musing and loss, particularly in the film industry.
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Furthermore, Horst experimented with patterns, creating images and close ups of plants and other such things found in the natural world. He used a tile method, taking one photograph and then repeating it several times in order to create an interesting mirror effect. Horst was fascinated by the shapes and patterns these created and was struck by ‘their revelation of the similarity of vegetable forms to art forms like wrought iron and Gothic architecture.’ Horst and other such practitioners enjoyed taking the shapes from their expected habitat so as to focus in and reveal their unusual form and beauty
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Another was Haute Couture. This was predomenantl in the 1930's beginning in 1931, when Horst first began to work with Vogue magazine. Photography was taking over graphic illustration asthe most popular way of displaying images in magasines, and Horst worked closely with designers, models and editors in order to create perfectly composed photographs full of purpose and meaning.
Room 100.
Other such exhibits in the museum featured photography from other photographers throughout time. The V&A was the first meauseum to collect and display photographs, and its collection is now among the most important in the world. Its collection includes images from 1839 to the present day, demonstraiting the way that photography has evolved over time. Fistly, it contained hand painted photographs. These where created before colour photos where possible, and concerned a blck and white image paintedwith colour in order to make it appear lifelike. This, while impressive at the time, gives a slightly over bright feel to the images and makes them seem slightly unnatural. (Ex: Horne & Hornthwaite, Princess of Wales.)
Other images there included those taken using the Calotype process, such as a photogram of leaves and flowers created by Anna Atkins in 1854. A slightly more advanced calotype was created by Benjamin Brecknell Turner in 1850. This however was of a barn; the negative image was placed in contact with a sheet of sensitised paper in sunlight producing a positive print of the same size.
Other images there included those taken using the Calotype process, such as a photogram of leaves and flowers created by Anna Atkins in 1854. A slightly more advanced calotype was created by Benjamin Brecknell Turner in 1850. This however was of a barn; the negative image was placed in contact with a sheet of sensitised paper in sunlight producing a positive print of the same size.
The Photograph Gallery also housed images demonstraiting other aspects of photograph history such as the modernist movement. The images taken under this movement where designed to use a camera to reveal aspects of the human world in a way that the eye could not, it therefore used uncusual angles and settings and sharp socus in order to force people to look at the subject of the picture in a diferent way. A key example of this was Irving Penn's work. He took innanimate objects such as cigarette butts or paper cups and photographed them very closely, so as to showcase their inherrent beauty and to imply meaning and significance to them
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