Galleries - October 2010

paper. As she leaves the trace of her shadow behind on the paper, her naked touch adds to the image’s allure. The looming, life size black and white silhouettes seem to shift before our eyes, as if they were our own shadows. As the jumping, twisting images hang side by side, they seem to dance in sequence creating a contemporary twist on Muy- bridge’s dance studies. Also like Muybridge, Neusüss uses the chair as a prop to add drama to the model’s movement such as his installation of a photogram on which a chair sits, capturing the shadow of the figure that was once draped across it. Nudes also take centre stage at Hamiltons Gallery witha selec- tion of iconic works by fashion photographer Jeanloup Sieff going on show for the first time since the mid 1990s. A contemporary of Helmut Newton, Sieff’s nudes are just as confrontational but softer, sexier and more vulnerable. Their visceral intimacy reflect his close rapport withhis subjects, suchas his iconic 1971 shot of Yves Saint Laurent, captured nude, sitting on a pile of cushions to launch Pour Homme , the first men's fragrance. Sculptured backs and magni- fied hands echo the surrealist photographs of Lee Miller, Bill Brandt and others and shadows are cast playfully onto their bodies His motion studies paved the way for cinema – and inspired artists from Edgar Degas to Cy Twombly. Now the complex world of Eadw- eard Muybridge is unravelled at a major retrospective at Tate Britain . Born in 1830, as photography was emerging, Muybridge capt- ured split second movement, creating images never seen be- fore by the human eye. Buffalos gallop, baboons walk on all fours, cockatoos fly. And most famously, horses thunder down the Sacra- mento racecourse. His ground breaking vision is also evident in his earlier, less well known work as unusual and often daring angles depict popular subjects in new ways. His sensuous waterfalls and rugged rocks of Yosemite, for ex- ample, were caught as he dangl- ed from a rope lowered from a precipice. The human figures in motion fascinate. For even though we peer closer – and closer – at these intimate images, we become increasingly unaware of the nak- edness of his models. Instead, we are absorbed by the physical movement that unfolds, and question our own actions. Interestingly his legacy lingers across other photography shows this month. Floris Neusüss, for example, provides a modern take on the nude in motion. His photo- grams or ‘nudo-grams’ are on show in Shadow Catchers, at the Victoria & Albert Museum (from 15 October). The camera-less images capture the female body as she lies on the photographic – either as a delicate pattern or as a humorously oversized hand, patting a model’s bottom. Iconic celebrity portraits from Jane Birkin to Alfred Hitchcock, hauntingly enigmatic landscapes and glam- orous fashion shots complete the show, underscoring why there is renewed interest in this stylish photographer. Another photographer with a distinctive vision is Kate Cledwyn, who is having her first London show at 3 Bedfordbury Gallery (12 October to 16 October). She manipulates digital images of ar- chitectural landmarks like the London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral and Big Ben to create clever geo- metric designs, experimenting with her media to accentuate the building/s she originally captured. Finally Paul Kilsby is showing at Hoopers Gallery to 8 October. He also experiments, his series of trompe-l’oeil collapsing real obj- ects from flowers to balls of string into reproductions of 17thC. Dutchand Spanishstill life paint- ings. Later in the month, the gall- ery will show 90 images from the second BritishWildlife Photo- graphy Awards (14 to 30 October) withimages from jumping dol- phins to cantering horses paying a timely tribute to Muybridge. DEPTH OF FIELD M elanie Abrams © F loris Neusüss ‘Untitled, Körperfotogramm’ 1962, Berlin from Shadow Catchers: Cameraless Photography at the V&A. Jeanloup Sieff, ‘Yves Saint-Laurent, Paris’ 1971 at Hamiltons Gallery Eadweard Muybridge, ‘Leland Stanford Jr on his Pony Gypsy Phases of a Stride by a Pony while Cantering’ at Tate Britain