Paul Strand: Photography and Film of the 20th Century, exhibition review
In 1949, the American modernist photographer Paul Strand described how, in the classic movie Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio De Sica conjured on film “the textures, sounds, movements and almost the smell of places”. Strand could have been describing his own work over more than 70 years, reflected in this magnificent show.
From early shots on New York’s streets, like the seminal Wall Street of 1915, to the last pictures he made in his garden in France, Strand had a gift for imbuing his pictures and occasional films with a palpable depth and atmosphere. He was a great composer of photographic space, with a sense of abstraction informed by the modern art he encountered in New York in the 1910s.
Compelled by a socialist, humanist drive, Strand depicted people and place in extraordinary detail, embarking on long-lasting projects in Italy, the Outer Hebrides, Ghana and elsewhere. The versatility of his vision stands out: he was as adept at piercing portraits as he was at poetic, even Romantic landscapes.
Some feel Strand’s photography evolved too slowly rather than making giant leaps, but this seems a minor quibble when he made such exquisite work.
For him, photography was an artisanal process. He would take as long as he needed to capture the perfect light, the ideal frame; these prints are not just images, but carefully nurtured objects.
Until July 3 at the V&A, SW7 2RL (020 7942 2000, vam.ac.uk)
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