Photographing the Invisible by Jill Furmanovsky
The first ever career retrospective of legendary music photographer Jill Furmanovsky shows off a hugely impressive career, says Amy Davies
Working in the industry for the last 50 years, Jill Furmanovsky’s music portrait CV is a veritable who’s who in the world of music.
Subjects include Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Miles Davies, The Police, Bob Marley, Chic, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, The Cure, Amy Winehouse, Stevie Wonder, The Pretenders, Beyonce and more besides – over 80 images are included in this extensive exhibition.
There’s an audio tour narrated by Jill herself available to visitors, who can listen through their own headphones. Other sections of the exhibition include ‘Meditations from the Pit’, which aims to encapsulate the sheer joy of working with live musicians, as well as intimate on-the-road shoots, which were carried out for the music press in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, and fashion-inspired portraiture from The Face era.
More sensitive images of typically shy subjects such as Jeff Buckley, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan are a real highlight, plus strong collaborations with the likes of Chrissie Hynde, Madness and – what Jill describes as her greatest muse – Oasis are great to see too. A whole section is dedicated to previously unseen images of the Manchester band, and indeed Noel Gallagher himself is a guest curator of the exhibition, alongside photo historian Gail Buckland.
The exhibition is due to go on a world tour, but starts life in Manchester – a city known for its musical heritage, with many Mancunian artists being photographed by Jill. As well as Oasis, there’s also Buzzcocks, Joy Division, The Fall and The Smiths.
There’s something for everybody as more recent musicians, including Billie Eilish and Stormzy, photographed at the Glastonbury Festival, are also featured.
For anyone that has enjoyed music over the past five decades, this is a must-see.