Still Life & Death - Hendrik Faure & Karl Blossfeldt

In the changeable month that is March I was thrilled to see a few sunny days amongst the grey ones. With a new show open 'Still Life & Death' - works by Hendrik Faure & Karl Blossfeldt -  it is always a good time to look ahead & reflect upon the work on display. What makes this particular show wonderful to me is the connections between the two artists & their lives that are strangely linked through much more than just the process they use/d...

Hendrik Faure explains the finer points of his prints

In this post I want to give you a brief glimpse into the show without too many spoilers! Hendrik Faure came over from Germany for the opening and to do a talk the following day. It was a real treat to hear him speak about his work & show the audience his copper plates & examples of prints & comparing the successful & unsuccessful - revealing the delicate nature of copper plate printing. 

The opening

The Private View was a lovely affair as always - but the best bit was the comments from guests whom had never seen or understood that they had seen photogravures before. Having one print on display next to it's plate really meant that you could communicate the basics of the process very quickly. 

This also added to the audiences appreciation of the gravure & it's physicality as an object - especially as Faure's work has a more rustic appearance than the neat graphic style of the Blossfeldt's.   

The first to arrive & enjoy the work

As with many artists Faure has a day job which fits beautifully into his art - as a practicing psychiatrist. His dark imagery reflects the shadows of the subconscious without revelling in it. (Interestingly, Karl Blossfeldt suffered from depression in later life.) Following in the traditions of artists many centuries before him Faure creates miniature tableaux's of life & death in the form of dead birds, cats, frogs interacting with objects such as mannequins, clocks, machine parts & skulls to name but a few…

Faure's pictures could be visually & spiritually associated with many artistic movements from the Dutch still life paintings of the 17th Century to Pictorialism & Surrealist movement. The dash of dark humour can be found if you look for it.  

©Aaron Harcourt 

Hendrik speaks

One of my favourite moments during Hendrik's talk was his reference to a racoon & mannequin in two of his works. The first it is soon after it's death so is fluffy & quite cute, however the second it is dehydrated & barely recognisable as a racoon, placed on the mannequin in both. Hendrik referred to both photographs as having the same 'actors' - which beautifully illustrated his close relationship to the creatures & objects he photographs his studio.

 ©Aaron Harcourt 

Hendrik & his wife before the talk

Interestingly, Hendrik occasionally acquires his animals through his patients if they find them on the road. Mostly they are found on the land near his house. I even had a find yesterday on my way home from work - so it is not so unusual to come across the dead in everyday life…

©Laura Noble

He spoke of the dead cat being found in between hay bales where it had gone to die in peace, a common occurrence in the countryside. 

By strange coincidence Blossfeldt was 63 years old when his first book of photographic images, "Urformen der Kunst" was published, the same age as Faure is now. Faure's daughter also attended the Institute of Royal Arts Museum in Berlin where Blossfeldt taught from the late 1800's. 

 

©Hendrik Faure - Example with grey scale on left

A reminder of an earlier time in his life is pictured above - taken whilst riding his horse. Due to a brain injury He can no longer ride & his horse doesn't recognise him due to this physical change as one side of his body no longer 'works'. We see the land which has been cleared to pave the way for an autobahn - damaging the landscape forever. This poignant image depicts his past & the corrosion to the future of Faure's physical self as well as the landscape.   

3 copper plates

Faure's 'vanitas' appear to be from another time pre-dating Blossfeldt by over a century yet they are contemporary prints. This harking back to the past is a fascinating subject that many photographers find enticing with the soft textures & tones which give the work a tactile quality all of its own. 

It is such an intimate experience viewing these works

When I was curating the show it soon became clear that the work needed to be hung in a uniform way as the eclectic images by Hendrik Faure were very busy with multiple areas of interest in each composition & would benefit from a straight hang. 

Mixing it up - the new hang on shelves with guests shows the scale

However, with the Blossfeldt I broke down the works to four sets of three pictures on narrow shelves that they can leisurely lean back against the wall - as if inviting you to swop them around. The joy of these works is that you can really play with the combinations, using the patterns in the plants to expand the arrangements to create another dialogue between them. The fabulous nature of these shelves really make changing your selection easy. The perfect way to rotate a collection. With prices for them starting at just £90 each (unframed) buying more than one needn't be a pipe dream, but a distinct possibility…

For more details see the gallery site or even better come & see for yourself! 

(TSATTF) Part 3 / Traces...

Bird footprints are always a joy to me as they are often created by light creatures whose prints will only stay a short while. This proof of their landing & walking this way & that conjures up pictures in my head of them hopping about on the soil, sand or snow, trying to guess what species made them. Living in the UK the species may not be particularly exotic but this does not alter my excitement at all. Having lived at my current address in London for 5 years I was surprised to find some recently near the back door in what must have been wet concrete many years before we moved here.

Whenever I spot prints I photograph them. Pictured are seagull prints in the sand in Australia, the back door ones & back garden prints last winter in the snow mixed with that of my cat Nova & my own winter boots. Needless to say the concrete one is taken with my Blackberry phone, which never ceases to amaze me.

It seems I am not the only one with this fascination, there is a forum that has a nice collection of bird prints linked through the pbase site. If you click on each one, the full details of the camera, exposure etc of the photograph are included. It is also helpful for identifying the tracks too. I am no ornithologist but simply admire & relish the unfathomable nature of birds.

Looking through the RSPB site for more bird feeding, came across a great offer for bird cakes. What more could you ask for bird + cake = happy days. Support them so we see more of these amazing birds in our gardens soon.

(TSATTF) There's something about things that fly... Part 1

So as many of you already know I collect (amongst other things) things that fly, birds, planes, helicopters.... These come in many forms, mostly photographic prints but also other things.

It has come to my attention recently that I was in fashion (OH NO) as it seems birds are all the rage at the moment. I'm sure this will pass as with all trends, but it is great to see birds everywhere so I have decided to start a flying series of blogs as I have taken so many pictures and come across so many related flying things it seems a shame not to share them.

The first is from Melbourne at Port Melbourne to be precise. I spent the day on the beach with my better half Mat, & observed the seagulls. Seagulls are always taken for granted, but if you really look at them closely they are so beautiful. It always amazes me how white their white feathers are, the way they hover & circle, what fun it must be to see the world from those angles.

They came very close and also settled down in the sand & seaweed on the beach. I made a few quick drawings of them as you can see here. Note the colour of the paper I draw on. As with many arty endeavours it can be intimidating facing the blank white page. I avoid this by drawing on paper of varying colours when travelling & I can clip several colours together to sift through on location. Using the traditional sketch book (hate the word 'sketch' it implies something trivial) is a nice way to keep it all together but if you want to separate one drawing or more from the rest it ruins the book. A nice archival box labelled by date, subject etc is much easier to keep track of.

Like people they move in their own way, it is hard not to anthropomorphise them. When I was much younger (16) my GCSE thesis was on Leonardo Da Vinci's studies of bird flight. His drawings are still in my humble opinion the best studies ever made, as the number & detail alone is hard to argue with.

Beginning this blog series with the simple birds we are familiar with & venturing into graphic design, art, painting, objects, jewellery, illustration & more it is a haze of feathers as far as the eye can see....

Each post will have a different title but numbered for my reference should I loose track. I will expand to include great photographic examples also, so for the photographer's amongst you dear readers do not despair...

Some of the best things come in small packages...

My fascination with Japan extends far beyond the obvious. Ritual & cleanliness are important. Reading the Japan Pulse blog, which is the blog for Japan Times Online Big (only) in Japan? section I came across 'oshibori' which is the practice of cleaning ones hands & face before a meal with a scented towel. The ones made into birds are featured here, photographed by Daiji Hirata,whose photo of 'Shinjuku in a Glass' is fantastic!

For those of you who don't know I have many obsessions (healthy or not) & my love of 'things that fly' (birds, planes & helicopters especially) & cats are high on the list. Both such loves are shared by Japanese culture. So as you can imagine my favourite image from the Tokyo Story series by Emily Allchurch is 'Tokyo Story 4: Interior (after Hiroshige) 2011' which also includes many other fascinating Japanese things on my 'love it' list. Some of these details are hard to see online, much better full size close up if you get the chance to see them at Diemar/Noble Photography DO! Emily's image here has everything, including birds & an airplane! What more could I wish for....

Included in this image there is a fan, the one here is my own with it's case, a gift from Tokyo from the lovely Brittain Bright. I always put one in my bag from April 1st as the London underground starts to get warmer around this time (seems a long way off but it's not) & get a little smug when I see other less wise commuters stare at it longingly.

Many years ago now I learnt how to do the Yang Style Fan Form which is a rarity nowadays. This is an adjunct to Chinese culture, but the love of the fan & it's use as a weapon is common to both. It made my appreciation for the fan as an object grow, which with a flick of the wrist snaps open. By holding one edge between thumb & forefinger you can 'snap' it in a really satisfying way, try it! I had to learn it right handed (I am left handed) so it was very difficult but much more satisfying when I got the hang of it. I cannot find the exact version online (as there a many) but this comes closest to it. Origami paper on the floor also has a geisha upon it. There are many references to geisha here (as the Hiroshige has a geisha figure) giving a more subtle suggestion alluding to a geisha's presence. The kimono (more about those in a later post) & the sign announcing 'Private' indicates the geisha also.

Then there is inrō, beautiful accessories (often attached to ones obi) that contain anything small. The explanation here is perfect! My interest lies in the design & sheer beauty of it as an object. It is hard to find antique inrō, as much now is plastic & not nearly as nice. The British Museum has a lovely collection, the one pictured here is aptly from the Edo period. The full details & more stunning inrō are on the website. The interior itself is enticing yet open as the water beyond leads to the industrial horizon looming in the distance. This hints at the great times of change & upheaval ahead as the Edo period came to an end with the overthrowing of Tokugawa by the Meiji Restoration on 3 May 1868.

I could wax lyrical about this picture all day it is my favourite. On a personal note, the chopsticks also give me a twang of pleasure as I still have my very first pair given to me by my dad when I was 7 years old. The pride I took in using & mastering them was a big deal as a kid. I think this is how my passion for the art of Japanese food was instigated, as eating with knives & forks gets a little dull & the food can be so pretty. If the bird-shaped oshibori is just the beginning of the meal, what adventures the rest of the meal could be...