CURTAIN RAISER Gallery launches with gift from one of Britain’s most influential documentary photographers
A NEW gallery dedicated to photography opens at National Museum Cardiff this weekend which celebrates the major gift of photographs from one of Britain’s most influential documentary photographers, David Hurn.
Swaps: Photographs from the David Hurn Collection presents a selection of works by leading photographers that Hurn has collected by swapping his works with fellow photographers.
The exhibition runs until March 11, 2018.
Of Welsh descent, Hurn lives and works in Wales.
Throughout his career as a documentary photographer and member of Magnum Photos, Hurn has been an avid collector of photography.
He has amassed his private collection over the past six decades, predominantly by swapping works with fellow photographers, including many of his Magnum colleagues.
The exhibition features over eighty works that highlight Hurn’s eye for a good photograph and reveal the friendships he has developed with key photographers throughout his career.
The whole collection comprises approximately 700 photographs by leading 20th and 21st century photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold, Sergio Larrain, Bill Brandt, Martine Franck, Bruce Davidson and Martin Parr, through to emerging photographers such as Bieke Depoorter, Clémentine Schneidermann, and Newsha Tavakolian.
In addition to his private collection, Hurn has also donated approximately 1,500 of his own photographs that span his 60-year career as a documentary photographer.
His gift has transformed the museum’s national photography collections and these works will contribute to the rotating programme of exhibitions in the its first gallery dedicated to photography.
National Museum Wales’ existing photography collections are uniquely inter-disciplinary and span subjects including art, social and industrial history, and the natural sciences.
Importantly, it includes some of the earliest photographs taken in Wales by pioneering photographer John Dillwyn Llewelyn and his family.
The addition of Hurn’s gift will transform the museum’s photography collections and provide exciting opportunities for expanding the collections in new ways.
David Hurn said: “This beautiful gallery at the National Museum will now put Cardiff and Wales on the international photography map.
“The Swaps exhibition includes some of the world’s greatest photographers, many whose work has never been seen before in Wales.”
David Anderson, director general of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales: “There is no better way to launch our first ever gallery dedicated to photography than with a unique collection of photographs from David’s private collection which he has amassed over the years.”
“We are extremely grateful to David Hurn for this generous gift, which will drive this important and much needed photography programme for Amgueddfa Cymru, benefiting the people of Wales and those further afield.”
“This exceptional donation will raise the profile of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales as an important centre for photography in the UK.”