RETRATO D E G R UP O GROUP P O R T R A IT
Henry Cartier-Bresson. MusĂŠe du Louvre, 1954. Courtesy of Magnum Photos.
Editado por / Published by Producciones de Arte y Pensamiento SL
Mimmo Jodice. Spectaculum Spectatoris, Musei Vaticani, 2015. Courtesy of the artist.
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Lucie Awards 2015 Mejor revista de fotografía del año Photography Magazine of the Year Kraszna-Krausz Foundation 2003 Mejor publicación de fotografía entre 2000 y 2003 Best Photography’s Publication 2000–03
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SUMARIO / CONTENTS
Editorial Retrato de grupo con perrito Group portrait with dog
8
Rosa Olivares
Grupos, retazos de una historia de todos Groups: fragments of our history
20
Rafael Doctor
Seydou Keïta
48
Helen Levitt
58
Carmen Calvo
66
Francesco Jodice
72
Kyungwoo Chun
80
Clegg & Guttman
86
Bert Teunisen
92
Masahisa Fukase
98
Tuomo Manninen 108 Germán Gómez 114 Rineke Dijkstra 122 Nicholas Nixon 128 Rutilo Patiño 134 Siân Davey 142
Groups: fragments of our history Rafael Doctor
The most important chapter in the history of human representation is undoubtedly that of the portrait, understood as the interpretation of one person by another after the contemplation, study, and analysis of the subject and the subsequent construction of a two-dimensional image using different artistic techniques. Within the portrait genre, group portraits have had a long history and acted as turning points in Western representation, establishing the guidelines for how a group is viewed and its reflection in a single representational space. The portraits range from simple juxtapositions of faces or bodies to complex scenes in which each of the portrayed subjects plays a determining role. In this short article, I intend to briefly review — focusing on the Spanish context — some of the group portrait typologies developed by photography since its emergence. But first, I invite you to take a mental journey through the different milestones of Western art and from there, analyse what the irruption of photography contributed. Thus, although there are many precedents, including Neolithic paintings that already show a group of people forming a scene, let’s take a huge leap to our current understanding of the group portrait. Let’s look at the donor portraits of the Middle Ages were the person commissioning the work of art shared the scene with main religious figures; or let’s take a look at works such as The Descent
E X I T Nº 73-2019 34
from the Cross (1435) by Roger Van der Weyden where the subjects portrayed start to show individual psychological features — although theatricalised — but that already point towards a more humanised representation. If we review the various representations of The Last Supper (1498) such as the one painted by Leonardo da Vinci, or the religious or mythological works by Boticcelli, Piero della Francesca, Masaccio and especially Filippo Lippi, or contemplate Raphael’s fresco of the School of Athens (1516) painted in the rooms of the Vatican, we can already find prime examples of group portraiture. Then came Caravaggio’s humanising depictions of all his subjects. But let’s shift our look to the north and the definite rise of power of the merchant class in the Netherlands and stop to analyse an artist like Frans Hals, undoubtedly the first great painter of group portraiture who masterfully represented different families, societies or bourgeois groups in a single space. Let’s look at the painting The Banquet of the Officers of the St George Militia Company (1616). The subjects portrayed are no longer religious or mythological characters but civilians, all of them with names and surnames who maintain their identity in a balanced group composition. They are the main characters of the paintings as masters of their own time. After Frans Hals, his contemporary Rembrandt consolidated the genre with universal works such as The Night Watch (1642), The Anatomy
Bernard Plossu. Familia en la Isleta, 1990. Courtesy of Colecciรณn Rafael Doctor.
Carmen Calvo. Prosa de vacaciones, 2000. Courtesy of the artist.
Clegg & Guttman. Managemen Board Publishing (Ringier), 1997. Courtesy of the artists.
Clegg & Guttman. Group Portrait of the Magazines Team. French Speaking Swizerland, (Ringier), 1997. Courtesy of the artists.
Tuomo Manninen. Officials, Car Registration Bureau, St. Petersburg, 2003. Courtesy of the artist.
Tuomo Manninen. Nhan sua xe Motorcycle Repair Shop, Saigon, 2006. Courtesy of the artist.
ritmo similar, unidas y sin duda en continuo contacto. Algo que sin duda impresionaría a Nixon desde la primera mirada, desde aquel ya lejano verano de 1975, cuando las vio juntas por primera vez. Nicholas Nixon fue hijo único, criado en solitario. The Brown Sisters es la obra cumbre de Nixon, la que le ha dado una popularidad internacional, un trabajo sobradamente conocido y comentado. Pero analizando este trabajo vemos más allá de su fotografía aspectos de su propia personalidad: una clara obsesión por este grupo de mujeres a las que lleva observando más de 50 años. Son muchos los artistas que han indagado en la relación del tiempo, la fotografía y el retrato. Solo por mencionar dos ejemplos citaría a Esther Ferrer con su Retrato en el tiempo (cada cinco años se autorretrata y corta y combina las dos mitades de su rostro de todos los anteriores retratos), y a Pere Formiguera con Cronos 199-210, retratos mensuales durante 10 años a una serie de diferentes personas, o el Retrato de mi madre, a la que fotografía sistemáticamente durante años. Pero el caso de Nixon refleja aspectos diferentes. Aparece la sombra de su soledad, de su individualidad frente a este bloque compacto de miradas de mujer. En todos los retratos las cuatro hermanas Brown le miran directamente, devolviendo su mirada curiosa, formando, tal vez, una barrera de contención. R O S A O L I V A R E S En 2018 Nicholas Nixon ha sido acusado de “conducta inapropiada”, cesado de sus clases en la Massachusetts College of Art and Design y denunciado por más de una docena de estudiantes por invitarlas para posar desnudas para él. También se han anulado sus exposiciones previstas. Una investigación está en curso.
E X I T Nº 73-2019 130
united and in obvious continuous contact. Something that undoubtedly impressed Nixon since that distant summer of 1975 when he saw them together for the first time. Nicholas Nixon was an only child. The Brown Sisters is Nixon’s masterpiece, it is a well-known and commented work that catapulted him into international fame. But through the analysis of this work we can detect aspects of his own personality: a clear obsession with a group of women who he has been observing for more than 50 years. Many artists have investigated the relationship between time, photography and portraiture. For example, Esther Ferrer’s Portrait in Time (every five years she takes a self-portrait and cuts and combines the two halves of her face with the previous portraits), or Pere Formiguera’s Cronos 199-210 (monthly portraits spanning 10 years of a series of different people), or Portrait of my mother, whom he systematically photographed for years. But Nixon’s case shows a different side. The shadow of his loneliness and individuality emerges in front of this compact block of women. In all the portraits, the four Brown sisters look directly at him, returning his curious gaze, perhaps forming a barrier of contention. R O S A O L I V A R E S TRANSLATED BY CAROLINE SVENSEN
In 2018 Nicholas Nixon was charged with “inappropriate conduct” and resigned from his professor position at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He was accused of sexual misconduct by more than a dozen students for supposedly inviting them to pose nude for him. His planned exhibitions have also been cancelled. There is an ongoing investigation.
Nicholas Nixon. The Brown Sisters, 1978. Courtesy of Colecciones Fundaciรณn MAPFRE, Madrid.
Nicholas Nixon. The Brown Sisters, 1984. Courtesy of Colecciones Fundaciรณn MAPFRE, Madrid.