In Pictures: Sir Elton John's photography exhibition at Tate Modern
- Published
An exhibition of modernist photographs from Sir Elton John's collection have gone on show at Tate Modern's new Switch House extension. They include portraits, still life and experimental techniques, from the 1920s through to the 1950s. Sir Elton calls photography "one of the most important and progressive art forms of the 20th century".
There are 25 images by Man Ray, a leading figure in the Dada and Surrealist movements, in the show - including this one titled Glass Tears (Les Larmes) 1932. Sir Elton set a world record for a photograph sold at auction when he paid £125,000 for it.
Sir Elton started buying photographs after coming out of rehab in 1990. "It's a much healthier addiction to buy photographs, so I just switched," he says in the exhibition catalogue. He owns about 8,000 images in his personal collection dating from 1910 to the present day.
One of Sir Elton's favourite pictures in the exhibition is Migrant Mother taken during the Depression in the US: "I love the fact that the photograph is so beautiful and yet the situation is so awful. I always call it the Mona Lisa of photographs. Her face is so elegant and dignified and yet she's going through the most horrific of times, trying to feed and clothe her children."
Man Ray's photograph Noire et Blanche positive - seen here with Noire et Blanche negative (1926) - hangs in Sir Elton's bedroom when not in the show. "It hangs above my bed in Atlanta. So if I die and it falls off the wall at least I will have been killed by a Man Ray," he says.
Sir Elton says he wants "everyone to go away thinking about the artists behind these images and marvel at how they experimented and changed the way we see things forever". This photograph is Nusch Eluard by Man Ray.
Sir Elton says the photographers were "going where no other photographer had gone before. I consider them true adventurers and what they did was extraordinary". This nude is by Edward Weston.
Sir Elton says his collection inspires him and fills him with joy. "I'm very fortunate to be able to live with this ... I live with my art. I don't put it away. It's on the walls." This picture is of the painter Salvador Dali by Irving Penn.
Sir Nicholas Serota, Tate director, says they have called the exhibition The Radical Eye "to remind everyone just how original and challenging the pioneering photographers of the 1920s, 30s and 40s really were". It runs from 10 November - 7 May 2017.
- Published9 March 2016
