Photo: Muhammad Ali (photographed at Deer Lake, Pennsylvania), 1974. David King, London. Gelatin silver print.
Armed with a keen eye and a critical mind, Kerry Patterson travelled to the Scottish capital to look at a much-lauded exhibition.
To give an exhibition the title of ‘100 Great Photographs’ suggests that it represents a definitive collection of important and iconic images.
However, the premise behind this exhibition, which runs at the Dean Gallery until September 7, is a more modest one.
Following a request in 1996, the picture editor Bruce Bernard began the task of compiling a ready-made collection of photographs for a private art collector.
Photo: Girl in a Hartlepool Pub, 1986. David Wise. © David Wise.
Under the premise that he would select only images that “truly stimulated and satisfied him,” Bernard has brought together a diverse selection of work, the results of a search taking several years.
Whilst photographs by many famous photographers are included, the exhibition contains few ‘iconic’ or familiar pictures. Bernard has instead chosen images that he feels are in some way significant, for a variety of different reasons.
Consequently, the works chosen cover a wide range of photographic styles and movements, and include photographs by amateur and unknown photographers, as well as pioneers of photography, such as William Henry Fox Talbot.
This adds a personal slant to the exhibition, as Bernard’s passion for the art of photography is evident through the fact he chooses such a range of photographs, lending no weight to the works of famous photographers over amateur works.
Therefore the work of Diane Arbus, whose renowned unflinching eye is evident in ‘Woman with a Locket’ (1965), can sit comfortably alongside a formally posed, hand-coloured family photograph of two anonymous children from the early 20th Century.
Photo: Is My Face Red, 1937. Anon. Gelatin silver print. Inscribed in pencil on the verso with title and Southampton, March 12, 1937.
Arbus’ assertion that “essentially what you notice about (a person) is the flaw” is equally applicable for both works, whether referring to the woman in her work or the children, who look uncomfortable and unreal.
Bernard stated that “the evocation of the human presence confers a power on photography before which all its other capabilities pale.”
Certainly, the documentary photographs in this exhibition are some of the most memorable, from the photographs of Civil War soldiers and veterans, taken in the mid 1800s by unknown photographers, to the drama of Weegee’s ‘Gunfight’, depicting the bloody aftermath of a gun battle in 1940s New York.
A photographic voyeur, Weegee delighted in capturing the unrestrained emotions of such scenes. Also of note is David Wise’s ‘Girl in a Hartlepool pub’ (1986), in which the “graceful tough vulnerability” of an otherwise ordinary-looking woman, is reminiscent of the paintings of Parisian nightlife by Manet or Degas.
Photo: Dockers, Liverpool, 1963. Colin Jones. Gelatin silver print. © Colin Jones.
In addition to the 100 photographs of the exhibition title, pictures taken by Bernard himself are also included.
His photographs of Francis Bacon, described by Bernard as “exhilarating company”, show the artist in his studio, fixing the camera with a penetrating gaze.
Bernard’s photographs of Lucien Freud are also on display. These show not only the artist but also his models, some photographed with Freud’s paintings of them.
‘100 Great Photographs’ is a fascinating look at life as represented through photography, since the earliest uses of the medium.
However, more significantly, it is an insight into the mind of a passionate photography enthusiast, a fact that gives this collection more charm and personal meaning than most photographic exhibitions.
