The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureArt

The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection at Tate Modern

The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection at Tate Modern | Exhibition review
8 November 2016
Anna Souter
Avatar
Anna Souter
8 November 2016

Exhibition and art

Anna Souter

The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection at Tate Modern

★★★★★

Dates

10th November 2016 - 7th May 2017

Entry

£16

Links & directions

WebsiteMap

This winter, Tate Modern has made the unusual move of putting together an exhibition of photography drawn solely from a private collection. The collection in question belongs to Sir Elton John who, it turns out, has a deep interest in art and particularly in photography. What becomes quickly apparent upon stepping into the exhibition is that the iconic singer-songwriter has impeccably good taste.

Attaching a celebrity tag to an art exhibition rings alarm bells: is this just another grasping attempt to pull in the punters? It’s likely that Elton John’s name will bring a new crowd through the door, but anyone expecting something mediocre will be deeply, and pleasantly, surprised. The 8,000-piece fine art photography collection is world-class, better than the holdings owned by many museums. The pieces he owns vary from early vintage 20th century works to cutting-edge contemporary images. However, the exhibition The Radical Eye focuses on Modernist photography from the 1910s to the 1950s, exploring a key era in the development of photography as an art form.

The exhibition strikes a delicate balance between following the evolution of Modernist photography and giving an insight into the unique collection and its owner. Works are grouped primarily to explore key Modernist themes. Highlights include Man Ray’s photographic portraits of other artists, which offer a complex interplay of artistic creation between sitter and photographer.

Elsewhere, the human body is explored, exalted and fragmented with radical close-up shots or unusual framing, which accentuate the compositional curves and angles of limbs or torsos. Included in this section are exceptional and rarely seen works such as Andre Keretsz’s Underwater Swimmer, Hungary (1917) and Ilse Bing’s Dancer, Willem van Loon, Paris (1932). Also of note is Dorothea Lange’s experimental documentary photography, including her famous work Migrant Mother (1936), which seems particularly poignant in the current political climate. Within each room, however, clusters of photographs are presented together as hung by John himself and his team, giving an glimpse into the private aesthetic tastes of the singer as a collector and the privilege he gives to certain works.

The exhibition gives a clear and engaging insight into how timeless artistic genres were reinvented through the camera’s lens during this era. Its combination of beautiful, ground-breaking work and careful curation makes The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection unmissable for any photography fan.

★★★★★

Anna Souter

The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection is at Tate Modern from 10th November 2016 until 7th May 2017, for further information visit here.

Related Itemsfeaturedreview

More in Art

No Holds Barred: The Life and Art of Matthew Lanyon

James White
Read More

Shai Baitel announced as inaugural artistic director of Modern Art Museum Shanghai

The editorial unit
Read More

The National Gallery online: Lockdown’s top 20 most viewed paintings

The editorial unit
Read More

Art 2021: London’s best virtual exhibitions from home

Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Ten artistic depictions of the Christmas story through the ages

James White
Read More

Five gifts for art lovers this Christmas

Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Five alternative art exhibitions for Christmas 2020

Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Sensing the Unseen: Step into Gossaert’s Adoration at the National Gallery

★★★★★
Anna Souter
Read More

Ben Uri Gallery and Museum: The evolution of a force for good

James White
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Exhibition and art

Anna Souter

The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection at Tate Modern

★★★★★

Dates

10th November 2016 - 7th May 2017

Entry

£16

Links & directions

WebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • The Girl and the Spider (Das Mädchen und die Spinne)
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Celebrate International Women’s Day with a Bombay Sapphire Cocktails & Create masterclass
    Food & Drinks
  • Kings of Leon – When You See Yourself
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Limbo
    ★★★★★
    Berlinale
  • Delectible drinks that would make the perfect Mother’s Day gift
    Food & Drinks
  • Killing Escobar
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • “There really hasn’t been a film that deals with a platonic male-female relationship in this way”: Natalie Morales and Mark Duplass discuss Language Lessons
    Berlinale
  • A Brixton Tale
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Surge
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • The Old Ways
    ★★★★★
    Glasgow
  • Berlinale 2021 winners: The full list
    Berlinale
  • WandaVision
    ★★★★★
    disney
  • Coming 2 America
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Kings of Leon – When You See Yourself
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Dissident
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

James Arthur – Back from the Edge | Album review
Saving Jason at Park Theatre | Theatre review