‘Capturing the Moment’ at the Tate Modern

On a bright and sunny Saturday, around noon, I wandered down the Southbank to the Tate Modern. There are a series of exhibitions I wanted to see and while this exhibition wasn’t high on my list, it was a show that was closing soon. So, I rushed to buy my ticket and see for myself the promised Francis Bacon’s and Andy Warhol’s, wondering why on earth would you place two such artists (amongst others) together in a show.

‘Three Studies for Portrait of Lucien Freud’ 1965 by Francis Bacon from ‘Capturing the Moment’ at the Tate Modern, London, UK

The white cube spaces within the Tate Modern are known for housing artworks that are metatextual, controversial and eliciting that age-old response ‘my five-year-old could do that’. – not that your five-year-old could, by the way. But my point is, you never really know what to expect at the Tate, you don’t know whether they’re going to pull a rabbit out of a hat or a tiger. It’s either going to be magic or… I’m not sure where I stand with this.

But I digress, this show was tame – well thought out and lulls you in. In the first room you meet Lucian Freud, Picasso and Dorothea Lange in the context of ‘Painting in the Time of Photography’. Effectively a rundown of how photography was gaining momentum as a new artist medium against the traditional Art World culture of painting and sculpture. Case in point: ‘Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California’ 1936 by Dorothea Lange. I mean it is one of the most iconic pieces of photography that encapsulated the American Depression. A furrowed brow staring off into the distance, exhausted and raggedy; small children cluster around her, hiding. Whilst this photograph is important historically – it sets a series of assumptions of poverty, of women and a specific point in the history of the United States. When the woman was later identified as Florence Owens Thompson, who later stated “I wish she hadn’t taken my picture”. Now while Lange didn’t make a cent from this photograph as the US government funded her at the time – thus the photo was public domain. It is a form of exploitation – imagine being the face of the American Depression! While I'm not here to engage in an ethics debate about photography – it is an interesting debate. The purpose of it being in this exhibition? To challenge our perceptions of what is, photography only shows you what the photographer wants you to see and then our assumptions lead the way.

‘Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California’ 1936 by Dorothea Lange from ‘Capturing the Moment’ Tate Modern, London, UK

Let’s talk about my favourite piece in this show: ‘A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai)’ 1993 by Jeff Wall. You may have heard in recent news that, Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day photo was taken down by several new agencies because Kate had played around with Photoshop. Let’s be honest – we’ve all done it, but it does evoke a certain conversation about truth and constructed reality. What is so excellent about this image by Jeff Wall is that none of it is real but, the aesthetic quality of it is deeply satisfying – the Fibonacci spiral is literally drawing itself as you look at it. the flying of papers into a cloudy grey sky, the bare trees leaning into the wind and the started looks of surprise on the people’s faces as the gust of wind takes effect. You can clearly see the influence of Hokusai – His ’36 views of Mount Fuji’ c.1830-1832, is iconic for a reason. The original work ‘Sunshu Ejir’ follows a group surprised by a gust of wind – they’re holding their heads down, clutching their hats and humble attire as they bow in surprise. Compositionally Hokusai’s print captures a moment in one – but the work by Jeff Wall was staged and is a merger of several photographs and you can tell that the paper was digitally added later as it doesn’t quite meld with the rest of the image. So why do it? What is the point of creating a constructed reality digitally enhanced? Look again at Hokusai, there is a simple fanaticism about his works – it just seems magical. His colours are so evocative and strong even when describing the humblest of society and social circumstances. Effectively you are transported to another world. When Wall creates this piece, he is creating a new reality, a fantasy that Hokusai was so clever at capturing – others may call it ‘Orientalism’. Fine. I’d call it magic.

Later in the show we ended up in a room full of Warhol’s and Rauschenberg’s. fine. Cool, seems a little too obvious of a choice to have included in the exhibition? There are several directions one could take when thinking about painting and photography. Looking into Warhol’s obsession with celebrity, mass media and mass production almost seems a little lazy. But to give credit where credit is due the curators didn’t go for the obvious ‘Marylin Diptych’ 1962 painting or ‘Campbell’s Soup Cans’ 1962. That being said, discussing the ‘to include or to not include’ curatorial dichotomy is not why I’m here. This particular room, and the show's last room, had a piece that took me by surprise: ‘Untitled’ 2019 by Lisa Brice was an unexpected joy. I don’t know much about this artist other than she is South African, but this painting is rather brilliant. It’s a portrait of a nude woman with a paintbrush in one hand and her palette at her feet. The other hand on her hip looking into a mirror while her reflection stares obtrusively back at you. my first thought was ‘Oh, damn’. It was the eyes. The blank white eyes staring out at you, challenging the watcher. She is in the nude – wielding her paintbrush, almost like a sword as paint drips quietly from the tip. There are different ways you can interpret the use of colour here, which is predominantly blue; you could argue that blue is a stereotypically masculine colour, and that the artist is glaring at you from the mirror could be seen as a challenge to the obtrusive male gaze. The blue also makes the painting seem cold and icy – that’s not to say that the artist is cold and icy; but rather a reflection that the painting has nothing to do with sex but everything to do with gender.

‘Untitled’ 2019 by Lisa Brice from ‘Capturing the Moment’ at the Tate Modern, London, UK

Overall, it was a good show, not the best show I have seen this year but certainly not the worst. I liked the layout of the rooms, the quotes adorning the walls and some of the pieces included were interesting choices. I know I said I wouldn't speak about curatorial dichotomy but the curation of the show wasn’t anything spectacular, it was well thought through and had a good thread but I lost the narrative along the way.