London

A couple of days in London to visit the National Portrait Gallery and the Photographers’ Gallery (to see the Evelyn Hofer exhibition).

The Hofer exhibition was brilliant. Not just the technical aspects, which I know little about (large format, dye transfer printing process), but composition, clarity and the sense of real people (Schiaparelli amongst her odd clutter, the unflustered Garrick waitress in contrast to Mrs Cibber behind her, the warehouseman with string for a belt and the foreman distinguishable by his bowler) and beautifully composed/observed still lifes. It inspired me to stop and photograph an old dairy warehouse I spotted on the way back, and – after seeing Hofer’s portrait of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I had to return to the NPG to compare it to John Singer Sargent’s pile-up of WWI top brass.