Exhibitions at National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Messages
11,757
Name
Jeremy Moore
Edit My Images
No
Three photographic shows -

1) Martin Parr in Wales - he seems to have mellowed slightly....

2) Bernd and Hilla Becher : Industrial Visions - I'd heard of their work but never seen it before. My mind was blown! Who'd have thought pithead architecture could be so interesting!

3) August Sander - didn't have time to look at this.

Free entry. All three on until March 1st.
 
Wales seems well served for good photography exhibitions.
 
Wales is a big place though. Aberystwyth > Cardiff = 4 hrs + by public transport, 3 by car (on a good day).

Just think how far you travel on the M6 in that time......
About 20 miles at the wrong times!
 
I really would recommend the Bechers' exhibition. I've genuinely never seen anything like it before. I guess we've all seen Martin Parr before; well as I said he seems to have mellowed a little and his work was a bit "David-Hurn-in-colour" - gentler and more teasing rather than sarcastic.

£32! Bangor to Cardiff return is nearly 3 times that. A bit much for a day.

That's shocking!
 
Last edited:
£32 is an advance booking on a Saturday morning leaving at ten past early, I guess it’s massively off peak and on inter city trains all the way.

I’m keen to see some original Becher work, as I’ve a couple of their books and I know that their work can be presented as typologies or as individual pieces depending on the subject. I’m an industrial photographer myself so very much my genre albeit my style is completely different.
 
I really would recommend the Bechers' exhibition. I've genuinely never seen anything like it before. I guess we've all seen Martin Parr before; well as I said he seems to have mellowed a little and his work was a bit "David-Hurn-in-colour" - gentler and more teasing rather than sarcastic.
I'm not sure if Parr has mellowed or is showing a different kind of work to suit different situations.His Multistory pictures from the West Midlands are 'milder' than his famous stuff - they were made for the people of that area. More like his early black and white pictures. Perhaps he's always been taking the 'David Hurn in colour' shots but keeping them hidden as they aren't as appealing to the art market? Just a thought.
 
He's no fool, that's for sure.
 
So I went down to see this last Saturday, and was hugely impressed.

August Sander is someone I was aware of but didn’t know much about. Despite having little interest in portraiture I enjoyed it once I’d got my head round his approach and also the historical context. It very much set the scene for the Becher exhibition as although the subject matter was clearly completely different, their approach was conceptually similar.

I do have a couple of books by the Becher’s but none of their typology work as I didn’t really get it. But in recent times I’ve developed more of an appreciation for it, and the contextual information and displays at the museum, plus the curators talk on the day really helped my understanding. Plus seeing the large prints arranged as typologies by Hilla Becher just before she died were much more engaging than small images on a screen or in a book. A really good exhibition that I’m glad I made the effort to get to.

Finally Martin Parr, someone whose work I enjoy and have seen most recently at Manchester Art Gallery. I know his work divides opinion as you either get it or you don’t. They’re absolutely not the type of photographs I would take but I do enjoy looking at them maybe due to my appreciation of the absurd.

So, a long day as it’s a long way from Lancashire to Cardiff, but definitely time well spent!

A few snaps and thoughts on the Becher exhibition on my blog: https://blog.mechanicallandscapes.c...trial-visions-at-the-national-museum-cardiff/
 
Last edited:
Back
Top