Three of the great names of contemporary photography – Catherine Opie, Cindy Sherman and Thomas Struth – formed part of a fine selection of works from the Louisiana Collection, on view at the far end of the South Wing during april.
For the first time since Illumination – an exhibition dedicated to international contemporary and classic works of art acquired to the museum collection – it was possible to revisit one of the works that then attracted the most attention, instantly becoming a “hit” among Louisiana visitors. The work, 700 Nimes Road by Catherine Opie is in fact a series of 50 photographs from the Beverly Hills home of Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor.
American art-photographer Opie (born 1961), who has risen to fame primarily for her pictures of minorities and subcultures, in this series has portrayed Taylor’s private quarters – full of sparking jewels and ordinary household items – with an artistry both sensitive and discreet. Taylor died in hospital, while Opie was working on the series, and the result therefore stands as a sensual monument over a bygone star, part myth part ordinary human being.
Here one could also admire works by Cindy Sherman (born 1954), internationally reowned for her conceptual tableaus that examine the construction of identity, the nature of representation, and the artifice of photography. On view as well were works by contemporary German photographer Thomas Struth, who in his extreme realism seems intent on showcasing just how complicated reality really is when it becomes image.
