The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG November 10 to May 7, 2017
Carl Laubin : A Sentimental Journey
Carl Laubin, Klenzeana, 2016 140 x 241 cm, oil on canvas (CAPRICCI inspired by Leo von Klenze) ©CARL LAUBIN
American born artist Carl Laubin (b.1947), now living and working in the UK, is best known for the virtuosity of his incredibly detailed capricci. A ‘capriccio’ in painting means a fantasy combining actual buildings, ruins, even fictional touches, dating back, some say, to ancient Rome, and the wall decorations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Laubin trained as an architect at Cornell, worked for London practices, including Jeremy Dixon, who encouraged him to illustrate their redevelopment of the Royal Opera House. By 1986, painting, his first love since early childhood, took over full time. Here, Laubin’s journey is from neo-classical 19th century to 1920s modernist. It begins with capricci inspired by the little known Leo von Klenze (17841864) who transformed Munich
from a provincial town into a major cultural capital city. ‘Klenzeana’, including many of his best known buildings and ‘Befreiungshalle’ built to celebrate of Bavarian freedom from Napoleonic rule, are two of the most powerful works in the show.
Plus One Gallery, B & C Trafalgar House, Juniper Drive, London SW18 1GY November 23 to December 16
60
The American
This major photography exhibition of classic modernist images from the 1920s to the 1950s is drawn from one of the world’s top photography collections, and marks the start of a long term relationship between Sir Elton and The Tate. With 150 works, all of rare vintage prints created by the artists themselves, from more than 60 artists, it includes André Kertész, Berenice Abbot, Alexandr Rodchenko and Edward Steichen, and a large swathe of works of Man Ray, collected over 25 years. It demonstrates how the portrait, nude and still life genres were reimagined through the camera. Featuring portraits of great cultural figures of the 20th century, including Georgia O’Keeffe by Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston by Tina Modotti, Jean Cocteau by Berenice Abbott and Igor Stravinsky by Edward Weston. Man Ray, Glass Tears (Les Larmes) 1932 Photograph, gelatin silver print on paper COLLECTION ELTON JOHN © MAN RAY TRUST/ADAGP, PARIS AND DACS, LONDON 2016