Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography at Tate Modern
By Megan • May 28th, 2008 • Category: News for Creatives (archives)“LONDON - Comprising over 300 works by 19th – and 20th – century photographers, Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography will present a fascinating history of photographic portraiture taken in cities around the world. Including work by Diane Arbus, Cecil Beaton, Brassaï, Walker Evans, Helen Levitt, Robert Mapplethorpe, Irving Penn, Cindy Sherman, Malick Sidibé, Wolfgang Tillmans and Weegee, among others, the exhibition will examine two contrasting sites of photographic practice: the street and the studio, bringing to light the dynamic interplay between these two very different forms of portraiture.
Street photography takes many forms. Its history was founded with the development of small and easily concealed cameras, offering the opportunity to catch subjects in informal, impromptu and even intimate moments. The exhibition will include Jacques-Henri Lartigue’s snap shots of the French bourgeoisie in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris and Arnold Genthe’s documentary photography of Chinatown in San Francisco.
Studio portrait photography, which was developed in the 19th century to create more formal portraits, offered the photographer a suitable vehicle for complex technical manoeuvres. It allowed the sitter the chance to compose and present themselves to the world with the associated props and backdrops, as in Samuel Fosso’s self portraits and Baron de Meyer’s fashion photography of famous artists.”
Megan is a creative producer at Wise Elephant.
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