RAMM V&A Travelling Exhibition

I went to this exhibition and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. There was so much to take in (60 prints in all and the blurbs that went with it) that I've decided to revisit it today and try to pick out my favourite images.

All I can remember is a picture of Twiggy riding a moped and wearing clothes from her own design label. This time I'm determined to take some notes and study the images more thoroughly.

I've found a copy of this image online:

(c) Ronald Traeger (American, 1937-1968). Twiggy. 1967; printed 1995;
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1159_grand_design/popup.php?img_id=334

RAMM V&A Travelling Exhibition Revisited

This travelling exhibition, under the auspices of the V&A museum, contained 60 pictures covering the decades between 1900s-2010.

The main gallery at the RAMM is confusing when you entered the gallery as it has 3 separate entrances and you had to wander round to find the start of the timeline otherwise you started in the middle, went on to the 21st century and back to the beginning.

The style of portraits changed from pictures of actresses, dancers and royalty in luminous romantic images in the early days to two pictures purporting to show the future by Steven Klein whose work confronts themes of violence, masochism, decadence and decay in American fashion photography at the end of the decade.

Betwixt and between was an eclectic mix of styles through the decades with examples of work from photographers such as Edward Steichen, Cecil Beaton, Richard Avedon, Norman Parkinson, Horst P Horst, Irving Penn, David Bailey, Harry Rankin and several other late 20th century photographers.  As the images moved from decade to decade the photographers seemed to want to portray the images they took in more ‘normal’ situations rather than the dream life style that you saw in the early pictures and photographers used their work to illustrate the changing styles of daily life.

When I came away after my first visit I started thinking about all the fashion photographers I had studied since I started working in the photographic industry and I was struck by which well-known people were missing in what was deemed a representation of fashion images of the past century.  People like Patrick Lichfield, Bob Carlos Clarke, Terrance Donovan, Annie Leibovitz, Ellen von Unwerth and Corinne Day.  Some photographers had two or three images; David Bailey had three pictures for example but there were still all those missing people.

One other thing that struck me was the lack of women fashion photographers included in the show.  In fact I only saw work from Deborah Turberville, Sarah Moon (who had 2 pictures on show) Corinne Day and Elaine Constantine.

My impressions overall were of a series of images thoughtfully put together that proved an interesting gallery but what struck me more was what had been omitted!

The Shed Photography Gallery

Last year I joined an online community called the Shed which promises to show your photographic work to the world and sell it giving you a percentage of the sale price.

All has been quiet on the sales front this year but the company (who is also based in Spain) has been holding an exhibition called Albion at the Malthouse, Town Mill, Lyme Regis until 3rd September: website http://www.theshedgallery.com/.

Success, I've finally sold something - a large print, 90cms x 60cms,  of the Marine Parade at dusk in winter and they've also sold a small version 27cms x 18cms. It was also the top viewed image on the website for two weeks, fame at last.

Marine Parade in Winter

V & A Travelling Exhibition at the RAMM, Exeter

I check regularly on the programme of exhibition at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum (RAMM) and was interested to see that the travelling V&A fashion exhibition is in Exeter until September 2nd.  I was going to see it last week but couldn't make it so I have decided to go today as I've always had an interest in fashion photography. I would have liked to go down that route but was never able to get a foothold so have watched from afar. Will report back on what I found later. Below is a link to 20th century fashion section at the V&A.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/0-9/20th-century-fashion/

Blurb from the RAMM catalogue, quote:
'This exhibition explores the range of approaches to fashion image-making from 1911 to 2011. It comprises nearly sixty photographs, including many rarely exhibited and recently acquired works by more than twenty photographers such as Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, David Bailey, Corinne Day and Tim Walker. This is the first touring exhibition from the V&A's Collection to showcase the work of international fashion photographers and to draw together such a broad range of important historic and contemporary fashion images. Exhibition organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.' unquote

Start Blogging

I've had this new module over a month now and really have to get started. I read through the first chapters, got all excited about the first assignment and then had to put it by as, instead of relaxing on a 2-week cruise my husband was struck down with one of those mysterious viruses and needed a lot of help. He's over the worst but is still not well but I feel I should make a start so here goes.

I've kept in touch with the thoughts of other students through the forums and have been watching a particular string of thoughts and will comment later.