{"id":1094,"date":"2024-05-31T13:12:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T13:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stg-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/?p=1094"},"modified":"2024-06-13T09:11:57","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T09:11:57","slug":"his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/2024\/05\/31\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"His Life On a Wall: Elton\u2019s New Photo Exhibition Breathes Life Into Queer Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The male form is everywhere in museums. A naked man is never shocking when he\u2019s presented in white marble, staring back at you with empty white eyes. The winged phallus of Pompeii warrants a giggle, but it doesn\u2019t feel out of place. But at the newly opened Fragile Beauty<\/em> exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London\u2019s South Kensington, I feel like I\u2019ve never had the experience of being so surrounded by images of naked men before. At least, not in a mainstream museum. They stand out because of the medium \u2013 photography. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was hugely important to have a section dedicated to male desire,\u201d says Lydia Caston, one of the exhibition\u2019s co-curators. \u201cEven though we see male nudes across museums and sculpture, sometimes in painting, when it’s photography, it’s always a bit more of a concern because it’s almost too<\/em> real. We wanted to do it in a bold way. The room is painted a bright red colour called Cranberry Crunch.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Room
Room showcasing Male Desire at the ‘Fragile Beauty’ exhibition<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a red which evokes velvet, voluptuousness, sex \u2013 the place behind the curtain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homoeroticism would be impossible to ignore in an exhibition co-created by one of the most famous gay couples in history. Supported by Gucci, Fragile Beauty<\/em> is a collaboration between the V&A and Elton John and David Furnish. Elton and David allowed the museum to select highlights from their 7,000 piece photography collection, creating an exhibition comprised of some of the most famous photos in history, from the 50s onwards. Many you will have seen before, but for a hall of fame, it feels surprisingly intimate and sensitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Peter
Peter Hujar, Candy Darling on her Deathbed, 1974 \u00a9 2023 The Peter Hujar Archive, LLC \/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur challenge was to translate a really private and personal collection, works that they live with, into something for the public. The V&A has a very broad audience, so it was a really exciting challenge to showcase things that we might not include within our permanent galleries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tom
Tom Bianchi, Untitled, 368, Fire Island Pines, 1975-1983 \u00a9 Tom Bianchi, courtesy of Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With themes ranging from fashion and showbiz to photojournalism and the illusion of America, the collection is indeed diverse. In very few places would you find a glamour shot of Miss Piggy in the same exhibition as Richard Drew\u2019s famous \u2018The Falling Man\u2019 photograph from September 11th. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarly on Elton said to us that it should be mischievous, it should be playful. But also the collection is pretty serious with some of the photojournalism work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ryan
Ryan McGinley, Dakota Hair, 2004 \u00a9 Ryan McGinley Studios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s a human story through the collection. [Elton and David] have collected them because they have a relation to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Peter
Peter Hujar, Divine at the Metropolitan Museum\nRussian Opening (III), 1976 \u00a9 2023 The Peter Hujar Archive, LLC, Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, DACS, London<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the highlights of the exhibition is an ode to Nan Goldin\u2019s Thanksgiving<\/em> series, faithfully represented in a white cube in the middle of the room. \u201cIn the book interview from the exhibition, Elton says that when he first saw that space in 1999, he and David immediately understood the shared vulnerability and joy within it and really felt like it was something that they could relate to. Like it was his life on a wall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queer highlights from the collection are plentiful. In one photo by Peter Hujar, Divine looks down at the camera sardonically, coquettishly, in a way that only a drag queen could. There are photos of \u201cTransvestites\u201d by Diane Arbus. Ryan McGinley captures sex, watched on by a wall of photographs. Robert Mapplethorpe\u2019s self-portrait blurs like smoke. References to the HIV\/AIDS epidemic weave through every room, a reminder of a generation whose stories might have been lost without this kind of living documentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Robert
Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait, 1985 \u00a9 Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is an exhibition which breathes. It brings the human experience \u2013 particularly that of LGBTQIA+ people \u2013 to life, through a sprawling series of rooms (and rooms within rooms). The queer identity is peeled back through every layer, the maze-like layout only adding to this dizzying experience. It shows the place between extreme joy and extreme sadness, a place queer people will instantly recognise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s unsurprising that the exhibition feels like a mirror of Elton\u2019s own life \u2013 a temple to fashion, masking, makeup, relationships, drug abuse, sex \u2013 a supercut of the greatest hits. It\u2019s exposing, but what better for a collection of photography?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fragile Beauty is on at the V&A London until January 5th 2025. <\/em>Book tickets here. <\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can follow the author on Instagram <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The V&A’s new exhibition highlights some of the best pieces from Elton John and David Furnish’s photography collection. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[44,22,11,21],"class_list":["post-1094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-culture","tag-elton-john","tag-photography","tag-queer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n'Fragile Beauty' At The V&A Museum Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Elton John's new photo exhibition breathes life into queer stories, with highlights from Peter Hujar, Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"His Life On a Wall: Elton\u2019s New Photo Exhibition Breathes Life Into Queer Stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Elton John's new photo exhibition breathes life into queer stories, with highlights from Peter Hujar, Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gay Star News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-31T13:12:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-13T09:11:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d1wrk42pj731ls.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2024\/05\/featured-images-3.jpg?height=1080&width=1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Helen Meriel Thomas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Helen Meriel Thomas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories\",\"name\":\"'Fragile Beauty' At The V&A Museum Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/05\/featured-images-3.jpg?height=1080&width=1920\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-31T13:12:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-13T09:11:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/98685adf1551d8b7534d94e2ba3ebe3f\"},\"description\":\"Elton John's new photo exhibition breathes life into queer stories, with highlights from Peter Hujar, Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/05\/featured-images-3.jpg?height=1080&width=1920\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/05\/featured-images-3.jpg?height=1080&width=1920\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Nan Goldin, Clemens, Jens and Nicolas Laughing at Le Pulp, Paris, 1999 \u00a9 Nan Goldin. Courtesy of Nan Goldin and Gagosian\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Culture\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/category\/culture\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"His Life On a Wall: Elton\u2019s New Photo Exhibition Breathes Life Into Queer Stories\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Gay Star News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/98685adf1551d8b7534d94e2ba3ebe3f\",\"name\":\"Helen Meriel Thomas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5923f9a2d985005092234c8fc0bf0650?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5923f9a2d985005092234c8fc0bf0650?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Helen Meriel Thomas\"},\"description\":\"Helen is a bisexual writer from London and Senior Social Content Producer for Gay Star News.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/author\/helen-thomasjoemediagroup-co-uk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"'Fragile Beauty' At The V&A Museum Review","description":"Elton John's new photo exhibition breathes life into queer stories, with highlights from Peter Hujar, Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"His Life On a Wall: Elton\u2019s New Photo Exhibition Breathes Life Into Queer Stories","og_description":"Elton John's new photo exhibition breathes life into queer stories, with highlights from Peter Hujar, Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories","og_site_name":"Gay Star News","article_published_time":"2024-05-31T13:12:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-13T09:11:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/d1wrk42pj731ls.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2024\/05\/featured-images-3.jpg?height=1080&width=1920","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Helen Meriel Thomas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Helen Meriel Thomas","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories","url":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories","name":"'Fragile Beauty' At The V&A Museum Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/05\/featured-images-3.jpg?height=1080&width=1920","datePublished":"2024-05-31T13:12:02+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-13T09:11:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/98685adf1551d8b7534d94e2ba3ebe3f"},"description":"Elton John's new photo exhibition breathes life into queer stories, with highlights from Peter Hujar, Nan Goldin and Ryan McGinley.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/05\/featured-images-3.jpg?height=1080&width=1920","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/uploads\/2024\/05\/featured-images-3.jpg?height=1080&width=1920","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Nan Goldin, Clemens, Jens and Nicolas Laughing at Le Pulp, Paris, 1999 \u00a9 Nan Goldin. Courtesy of Nan Goldin and Gagosian"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/culture\/his-life-on-a-wall-eltons-new-photo-exhibition-breathes-life-into-queer-stories#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Culture","item":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/category\/culture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"His Life On a Wall: Elton\u2019s New Photo Exhibition Breathes Life Into Queer Stories"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/","name":"Gay Star News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/98685adf1551d8b7534d94e2ba3ebe3f","name":"Helen Meriel Thomas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaystarnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5923f9a2d985005092234c8fc0bf0650?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5923f9a2d985005092234c8fc0bf0650?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Helen Meriel Thomas"},"description":"Helen is a bisexual writer from London and Senior Social Content Producer for Gay Star News.","url":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/author\/helen-thomasjoemediagroup-co-uk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1094"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1511,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions\/1511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-gaystarnewscouk.gmg-staging.link\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}