Studio Sem, Pietrasanta, 2016,
Henryk Hetflaisz
It was a great delight to meet the sculptor Helaine Blumenfeld OBE again at the opening of her exhibition Hard Beauty at the Hignell Gallery in Mayfair’s Shepherd Street (hignellgallery.com). Her exceptional sculptures which combine the ideas of abstraction and figuration are tours de force which take great skill and verve to create as there are elements of risk in that process.
Helaine Blumenfeld OBE,
Taking Risks, Terracotta, 2016,
Courtesy Hignell Gallery, Henryk Hetflaisz -001
Just a short walk away in Bruton Street you still have the chance to see an exhibition (until 29th October) devoted to Helaine’s father-in-law the renowned photographer Erwin Blumenfeld. Entitled Erwin Blumenfeld: From Dada to Vogue, it is being shown at Osborne Samuel (www.osbornesamuel.com) and comprises of a mixture of original photographs, drawings collages and personal ephemera which have come from his family.
Erwin Blumenfeld,
Vogue, Paris, 1938,
Silver Gelatin Print,
Courtesy Osborne Samuel
This exhibition’s importance is highlighted by its curator Lou Proud who says: It is simply not possible to put into few words the importance of Erwin Blumenfeld’s work, let alone its stand alone beauty and ever resounding influence on today’s image makers. It’s fascinating how someone who did everything possible to stretch, bend and break the existing boundaries of traditional photography, managed to create works that reach far beyond what we could ever dream that the medium of photography would and could deliver, leaving us In Memoriam, with what only can be described as ‘solidified magic’.
Erwin Blumenfeld,
Shadowed Silhouettes, 1953,
Silver Gelatin Print,
Courtesy Osborne Samuel
While writing about Osborne Samuel it seems right to mention that they were behind the loan of Lynn Chadwick’s Walking Woman (1984) to Salisbury Cathedral where it can be seen on the West Lawn. The gallery has had a long relationship with the Cathedral (www.salisburycathedral.org.uk).
Lynn Chadwick
Walking Woman (1984)
Credit Ash Mill
Tim Forrest's E & A 