Digital Editions
Newsletters
Subscribe
Digital Editions
Newsletters
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Art market
Museums & heritage
Exhibitions
Books
Podcasts
Columns
Technology
Adventures with Van Gogh
Exhibitions
news

The fine line between drawing and photography

Two-venue exhibition in London examines the rarely-explored relationship between the two media

Jane Morris
26 May 2016
Share

Photography literally means “drawing with light”, so it is perhaps surprising that the relationship between drawing and photography is not more regularly explored. Two related, boutique exhibitions at the Photographers’ Gallery in central London and the Drawing Room in Bermondsey have tackled the subject side-on, with a carefully selected group of artists who challenge, stretch and play with the relationship between the two media.

The Photographers’ Gallery is showing 12 artists’ mostly photographic works: from evocative photograms by early Modern masters such as László Moholy-Nagy and Curtis Moffat to works by contemporary artists. The UK artist Richard Forster shows meticulous, abstracted, strange coastal tidelines while the Czech artist Jolana Havelkova shows expressionistic photographs of scored surfaces which turn out to be the marks of skates on ice.

Six artists are on show at the Drawing Room, most of whom use drawing or drawings in combination with other media. Thomas Zummer produces touching images of tiny robots, made with graphite powder and an eraser, which subvert our ideas of traditional portrait photography. Dove Allouche’s dark, mysterious “Spore” series uses lead pencil, silver oxide, ethanol and inks and are based on the patterns of mould growing on old, archived silver gelatin prints. Meanwhile, Tacita Dean shows—for the first time in the UK—Still Life I-VI, images of a set of found drawings from the studio of Giorgio Morandi.

This is a show that considers conceptual and philosophical ideas of representation but also the materiality of the works: the graininess or smoothness of paper, the shimmering, metallic surfaces created by graphite and silver, the beauty of grisaille, the ghostliness of collage and overprinting. Both are gems of exhibitions and truly complementary.

• Double Take, Drawing Room, until 5 June, and at Photographers’ Gallery, London, until 3 July

ExhibitionsReview
Share
Subscribe to The Art Newspaper’s digital newsletter for your daily digest of essential news, views and analysis from the international art world delivered directly to your inbox.
Newsletter sign-up
Information
About
Contact
Cookie policy
Data protection
Privacy policy
Frequently Asked Questions
Subscription T&Cs
Terms and conditions
Advertise
Sister Papers
Sponsorship policy
Follow us
Instagram
Bluesky
LinkedIn
Facebook
TikTok
YouTube
© The Art Newspaper

Related content

Photographyarchive
1 January 2000

The looming spectre of a large scale photograph : Our choice of New York contemporary galleries

Drawing on draughtsmanship at Alexander and Bonin, Paula Cooper, Zwirner and Marlborough

Adrian Dannatt
Sarah Lucasarchive
1 March 2000

What's on in London: Sarah Lucas lights up and gets Freudian

Subconscious probings at the Lisson and Fa1, White Cube takes on a disquieting new talent and there are spots before the eyes at Victoria Miro

The Art Newspaper
Photographyarchive
1 November 1994

Photography thriving in London, shortage of collectors notwithstanding

Few buyers, but innovative galleries win the public's approval

Christine Buckland