SEEING AND FEELING

MARGARET STREET GALLERY

DOROTHY BOHM: SEEING AND FEELING

EXHIBITION: 30TH JULY- 29TH SEPTEMBER

www.margaretsteeetgallery.com
(Information below found in the exhibition handout)

I little gem of a gallery in London which happens to have featured a legend of British Photography, Dorothy Bohm. Being one of the most productive and versatile photographers for over 70 years she is still active today, with examples of her work being exhibited in public and private collections all over the world. She has published all of 14 books and has had several one-women exhibitions. At 88 her enthusiasm is still there for taking pictures and continues unabated.

Bohm came to England in 1939 after escaping Nazism in Lithuania at the age of fourteen. She finished school in Sussex and then went on to study Photography in Manchester. She later opened her own photographic studio in the same city aged 21, making a name for herself as a portrait photographer.

Polaroids 1980-82

Frequent visits to the Swiss lakes influenced her practice in outdoor photography, with the impressive quality of light and being encourage by well-known painters and sculptures, she soon exchanged studio work for images of the figure in their natural environment. After and during the mid 50's she spent a year in Paris and again encouraged by artist friends she continuously photographed and traveled to other countries and continents.

The Polaroids were the highlight of the exhibition, displayed in a glass top cabinet they were like little elements of her journey as a photographer, almost like a diary or a journal. This work has inspired me to just photograph anything and everything even if it's not relevant to any specific project you're working on, as later on they may become useful for something else. Each image above and below has a strong appearance in colour and Bohm has really used the frame to it's fullest to get every detail there is.

Polaroids 1980-82

In the early 1980's Bohm was encouraged by Andre Kertesz and began experimenting with colour polaroids and discovered a new love, no longer wishing to photograph in black and white. Colour made it possible for Bohm to express her fascination with reflections and surfaces, allowing for witty exploration of spacial ambiguity, almost verging on abstraction.

I love the format of Polaroids, as they are small and square in shape and give a really vibrant and subtle quality to the image that a digital camera can't give you. The contrast between the black and white and colour images show a difference in the way Bohm looked at things and how she decided to interpret the everyday, using expressive colours that you wouldn't normally see in a black and white image.

Monte Carlo, 1987, Manchester, 2010 (Monochrome), Spain, 2000

Bohm manages to capture the essence of everyday life and as Sir Roland Penrose wrote in his introduction to her first book, 

"Dorothy Bohm knows that her camera does not only see, it also feels. It caresses the rough surfaces of plastered walls and cobblestones, it gently strokes the bloom of a girl's cheek, it penetrates into the intimacy of a shadow".

Bond street, London, 1996, School boys and teacher, Metro Station, Paris, 1988, Bond Street, London 1997

The black and white and colour prints in the exhibition are drawn from 'A world observed', the first comprehensive retrospective of Dorothy Bohm's work, which was a major hit at Manchester Art Gallery in 2010, and the Sainsbury Centre for visual Arts, Norwich, in 2011. They are supplemented by a substantial number of jewel-like Polaroids she took between 1980 and 1982. The show coincides with 'Another London', a major exhibition being held at the Tate Britain, which includes a selection of her work, and anticipates her solo exhibition 'women in focus' at the museum of London, which opens in November.

These architectural images are stunning and although there isn't much colour in the image, 'Reichstag, Berlin 2006', the composition is enough to enthrall you in and captivate your imagination and curiosity. 

From left to right, Torn Poster, London, 1997 (foot), Torn Poster, London, 1997 (Bjork), Torn PosterMarseilles, France, 1997 (hands)

For further information, see www.dorothybohm.com