K1 Kämp Galleria Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki
30.04-29.08.2021
Fantastic filmmaker forwards from fabulous fotographer.
Raised in the Bronx, NYC in a American Jewish family, Stanley Kubrick’s intelligence was discovered to be above average but his public school attendance was poor, yet he displayed his interests in literature, jazz, chess and New York Yankees games on the weekends. At age of 13, Kubrick received a Graflex camera as a gift from his father, Jacob Leonard Kubrick, triggering his fascination with still photography. He befriended a neighbor, Marvin Traub, who shared the darkroom with Kubrick, and the boys indulged in numerous photographic projects together, soon Kubrick was chosen as an official school photographer. In the mid-1940s, while briefly attended evening classes at the City College of New York., Kubrick sold a photographic series to Look magazine, which was printed on June 26, 1945, he also supplemented his income by playing chess for quarters in Washington Square Park and several Manhattan chess clubs. The chess games remained a lifelong interest of Kubrick’s, not only appearing in his films, but when later became a member of the United States Chess Federation, Kubrick also explained that chess helped him develop ‘patience and discipline’ in making various decisions.
In 1946, Kubrick began as an apprentice photographer for LOOK and later a full-time staff photojournalist, he quickly became known for his storytelling in photographs. Kubrick’s photography style has been retrospectively demonstrated that Kubrick’s early interest in capturing individuals and their feelings in mundane environments. In 1948, Kubrick covered the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Sarasota, Florida. As being am enthusiastic boxing enthusiast, Kubrick eventually began photographing boxing matches for the LOOK, and published Prizefighter on January 18, 1949, featuring Walter Cartier. From April 1949 to July 1950, his photo essays “Chicago-City of Extremes” “Working Debutante–Betsy von Furstenberg”, published in LOOK, which foresaw his talent to create atmosphere with imagery. Kubrick was also assigned to photograph numerous jazz musicians, from Frank Sinatra, George Lewis to Phil Napoleon.
Finnish Museum of Photography exhibited Kubrick’s idiosyncratic taste for the LOOK magazine during his career from 1945-50: Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs at K1 Kämp Galleria; organized in collaboration with the Museum of the City of New York and the SK Film Archives LLC, which was curated under Skirball Cultural Center in October 2019. K1 Kämp Galleria exhibition introduces Stanley Kubrick’s Graflex camera at entrance salon, and at the major gallery categorizes the themes chronically from ‘Life and Love on the New York City Subway’ (1947), ‘Walter Cartier, ‘Prizefighter of Greenwich Village’ (1949), ‘Betsy Von Furstenberg’, ‘Show Girl’(1949) and ‘Jazz Master’: on the walls the photographs are framed in black steel frameworks, while at the centre glass showcases illustrate the physical copies of Stanley Kubrick’s journal essays and photographs published by LOOK magazine.
Before creating the close-up cinematography to emphasis the female’s sensitivity, such as The Shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick does have a series of works about the females being stared at. By using various angles to replace the human eyes in order to construct the viewer. Such as in one of my favourite series ‘Show Girl’ (1949, Museum of the City of New York. The LOOK Collection), Kubrick put traces of invisible intruders from the beginning. In the picture, young Rosemary Williams wrapped in an exquisite gown standing in front of the bathroom door, she stroked her shoulders, looking forward to curiosity toward the upper left side of the bathroom ceiling. The doorframe on the centre of the screen shows that the ‘viewer’ is located outside the bathroom, but the more profound meaning is that in this vague image, the artist uses the graininess of the screen as a reminder to construct the viewer as a hidden voyeur…
However, from the ‘Show Girl’ series, the door is also an abrupt element in the image, suggesting that the viewer (Kubrick or us) is from outside the bathroom where Rosemary Williams is. Look inside of the bathroom; while the distance between the ‘gazer’ and ‘being gazed’ has disappeared due to the focal length of the lens creates a sense of continuity. There is no doubt from the series of photography, that at the very moment, when ‘showgirl’ looks at the doorway or into the mirror, what she glances is not only the reflection in her own mirror, but also the viewer, which is different from the concept of distance between the gazer/photographer, the meaning among ‘Show Girl’ and Kubrick/us is a connection. Furthermore, the image implies a narrative plot, as if the showgirl is preparing to relax at her salon while chatting to some friends outside the bathroom.
K1 Kämp Galleria provides a plentiful of The LOOK magazine physical copies, a rich genre of separate eras of Kubrick’s journal records, a detailed description of a series of photography and a rather pleasant touring experience at summer time, perhaps it is due to this drizzling weekday. Moreover, it would be more fascinating to us the viewers, that K1 Kämp Galleria museum shop proposes merchandise of Stanley Kubrick’s The LOOK collection.
Photography & Works Cited:
https://www.valokuvataiteenmuseo.fi
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