A weekend trip to Paris to visit my eldest daughter Anouska for her birthday. As a keen photographer herself we headed for the legendary, ground breaking Pompidou Center to take in the much lauded Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition. Walking along the Parisian streets you really have time to look at some of the magnificant architecture and interesting buildings that the city has in such abundance. We had already got our tickets but once we had climbed to the top we found a queue snaking around and around for a good half an an hour [1]. However the Museum of course had thought this through and all along the wall there was a fascinating timeline with all of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s remarkable life achievements. Once inside I found I actually recognised many of his obviously iconic shots [2&3]. I especially loved the Coronation of George VI [4] – how amazing do the people look. So proud and so beautifully turned out. I found there was a lot to learn about how he shaped the world of photography as we know it to be. A really great show.
After Paris it was straight back to London where it has been a busy couple of weeks of shows opening in London, so I’ve been rushing around trying to catch up before the Easter holidays. First stop was the Alex Maclean show ‘Aerial Perspectives’ at Beetles + Huxley [5] in central London (www.beetlesandhuxley.com). A fully licensed pilot Maclean uses his Cessna 182 carbon fibre aeroplane to explore the world recording landscapes, architecture and human behaviour from the skies [6,7,8]. He is a new name for me and overall I liked the photographs, but there was nothing unique enough to make them stand out or make me want to take one home. The concept of aerial shots are obviously reminiscent of Yann Arthus-Bertrand, whilst the beach shots reminded me of Massimo Vitali – who I love. I wanted to see them bigger, and not so many stacked on top of each other. Also a great shame that the cover image on the catalogue [9], and used in the publicity for the show, had been sold and taken off the wall. We always insist that all pictures have to remain on the wall for the duration of the show!
Then to Getty Images Gallery (www.gettyimagesgallery.com) on Eastcastle Street where they have a new exhibition by the maverick American photographer Slim Aarons entitled ‘Slim’s Riviera‘ [10]. This show portrays the luxury and frivolity of a generation at play in Europe’s Riviera. The collection includes previously unpublished work, showcasing the playgrounds of the rich and famous in all their glory [11&12]. I love Slim’s work but feel his images have become slightly overexposed, available on everything from mugs to beachwear – which makes it harder for me to want to add one to my collection.
That night it was back to the uber-cool Andre Balazs’s ‘Firehouse’ on Chiltern Street for drinks with Canadian photographer Tyler Udall [13] who was in town for a few days. Tyler is one of the world’s hottest emerging photographers and his debut London show with us last year was a great success. We are now planning for his return in spring 2015.
And just a reminder, it is the final week for entries to our photography competition with charity Survival International – looking for images of tribal peoples. Visit www.survivalinternational.org/photography. The winning entries will be published in Survival’s 2015 Calendar and exhibited at my gallery, The Little Black Gallery, in December. So get entering!
