I’ve seen a number of photo exhibitions over the past few days. I might try and find time to write about Arctic Convoys, 1941-1945 which i saw at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. In the meantime this post is going to be about some of the photo exhibitions i saw in Hannover this week. There is a solo show of Alice Springs’ work at the Kestnergesellschaft. She was Helmut Newton’s wife. The works on view are competent, a bit too Newton-esque for my taste and rigorously black and white. Mostly fashion shots, and shots of fashion designers. She did make a wonderful series of portraits of members of the Hell’s Angels though. I wish i could reproduce on the blog every single image from that series. Sadly, i cannot find any trace of it online (please, please, drop me a line if you’ve spotted them.) So i’ll leave that one aside.
Gerhard Gronefeld, Junge Stockenten auf Holzente geprägt, Seewiesen, Germany, ca. 1958
And i’ll go ahead with the two images that got stuck in my head during my trip to Germany. The first one shows Ducklings conditioned to follow a wooden duck. It’s by Gerhard Gronefel, photographer of poignant moments in the Germany of World War II. And then of course i almost had a heart attack when i saw the Cheshire cat grin of Dieter Bohlen from the Modern Talking (the Modern Talking!) was plastered on all over the bus stops i walked by. Germany, I love you!
Still, the magnet that got me to Hannover wasn’t a piece of musical (and fashion) history but Photography Calling!, an exhibition at the Sprengel Museum that explores ‘documentary style’ photography from the 1960s to the present day.
The work of 31 photographers are part of the show. You can never go wrong with the likes of Diane Arbus, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Lee Friedlander, Martin Parr, Thomas Struth Tobias Zielony, Thomas Demand, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff, Wolfgang Tillmans and Jeff Wall. Most of the works exhibited are jaw-dropping. However, i now have the feeling that i have seen this kind of exhibition one time too many.
Laura Bielau, Carte de visite – Lab Girls (from the series COLOR LAB CLUB), 2008
Zielony followed young people hanging around the desert city Trona outside Los Angeles.
Tobias Zielony, Lighter from the series “Trona – Armpit of America,” 2008
Tobias Zielony, Ramshackle, from the series: Trona – Armpit of America, 2008
Tobias Zielony, Dirt Field, from the series: Trona – Armpit of America, 2008
Tobias Zielony, 13 Ball, from the series Trona – Armpit of America, 2008
Thomas Struth, South Lake Street Apartments IV, Chicago, 1990
Diane Arbus, A Jewish Giant at Home With His Parents in the Bronx, NY, 1970
Diane Arbus, The King and Queen of a Senior Citizens Dance, N.Y.C.
Diane Arbus, Retired man and his wife at home in a nudist camp one morning, N.J, 1963
Diane Arbus, A Young Brooklyn Family going for a Sunday Outing, N.Y.C., 1966
William Eggleston, Untitled (Memphis-Tennessee), 1972 from 14 Pictures, 1974
Nicholas Nixon, Hyde Park Avenue, Boston, 1982, From Photographs from One Year, 1981-82
Martin Parr, St Moritz. St Moritz polo world cup on snow. Spectators at the event. 2011.
Wolfgang Tillmans, Onion, 2010
Wolfgang Tillmans, Tukan, 2008
Stephen Gill, Untitled – From Coming up for Air, 2008-09
Stephen Gill, Untitled – From Coming up for Air, 2008-09
Lee Friedlander, Philadelphia, 1965
Photography Calling! remains open through 15. January 2012 at Sprengel Museum Hannover.