Chris Garnham: Photographer 1958-1989
8 November 1990 - 20 January 1991
Press Notice
Chris Garnham Photographer 1958-1989 is a retrospective tribute to the young and talented portrait photographer whose life and career were abruptly ended last year in the Marchioness riverboat accident.
The exhibition covers his career after leaving the Royal College in 1982 where he trained as an illustrator, through the 1980s when he was working for, among others, youth and trend-setting magazines such as The Face and Blitz. The latter voted him Photographer of the Year in 1984. On show will be some seventy photographs, mainly in black and white, including a number of his record covers and pages from The Face for which many will particularly remember him. His portraits are mainly of people in the art, music, fashion and literary world and include Gilbert and George, Paula Rego, Elvis Costello, Paul Simonon, Michael Clark, Theresa Russell, Kathy Acker and Nick Coleman. His training as an illustrator had already given his work a distinctive and imaginative style of his own, which at time of his death was beginning to adapt to fashion photography.
Chris had previously shown work at the National Portrait Gallery in the group show ‘Twenty for Today’ in 1986, alongside other top young photographers working in the world of portraiture, such as David Buckland, David Hiscock and Alastair Thain.
The exhibition has been selected by Robin Gibson, Curator of the 20th century collection, and Sue Odell on behalf of the Friends of Chris Garnham. The Friends are raising money for a trust fund to establish an annual prize of £1,000 at the Royal College of Art. The Chris Garnham Prize will be awarded to a promising photography illustration student.
Handlist
6. Neville Brody, 1983
Graphic designer
Commissioned for Blitz
x38103
7. Anita Brookner, September 1984
Novelist and art historian
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x25218
8. Robert Butler-Sloss and Anthony Radford, September 1984
Writer/theatrical director and actor/producer
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x38373
9. Campbell and Hart, December 1986
Commercial jingle writers
Commissioned for Campaign
x38104
15. Fifties style shell-bodice dress, April 1989
Commissioned for The Independent
x126844
16. Fifties style spikey-ruff dress by Thierry Mugler, April 1989
Commissioned for The Independent
x126843
17. Roddy Frame, (undated)
Musician, Aztec Camera
x38109
18. Richard Gilbert, November 1988
Artist
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x38380
19. Gilbert & George, 1986
Artists
P853
20. Gilbert and George at home, July 1987
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x38383
21. Iain Glenn, 1989
Actor
Commissioned for Sky magazine
x38110
22. Green Girl and Red Girl, (undated)
Two toned prints
x126845 and x126846
23. Ian Hislop, September 1984
Editor of Private Eye
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x25219
24. David Hughes, September 1985
Writer
Commissioned for Harpers and Queen
x38381
25. Rod Judkins at Kensington Town Hall, autumn 1983
Artist
x38111
26. Lester Lanin, April 1984
Conductor
Commissioned for Manhattan Inc. Magazine
x38112
27. Mike Leigh
Writer and director
Commissioned for Premiere magazine (colour)
x38113
28. Lene, 1987
x38114
29. Emily Lloyd, (undated)
Actress
Commissioned for German Vogue
x38115
30. The Lotus Eaters, c.1984
Project for record sleeve (colour)
31. Doug Lucie, February 1986
Playwright
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x38382
32. Mary Mabbutt, February 1985
Artist
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x38374
33. Daniel Mafe, February 1988
Painter
Commissioned for Art News (colour)
x38116
34. ‘Mimi’ Izumi Kobayashi, 1989
Singer
Commissioned for Megadisc Records
x38117
35. Brian Moore, September 1987
Writer
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x38375
36. Rosemary Moore Collection – Girl with shoe, 1988
Commissioned for The Rosemary Moore Catalogue
x88854
37. Rosemary Moore Collection – Girl on a ball, 1988
Commissioned for The Rosemary Moore Catalogue
x88855
38. Mark Morris, January 1986
Choreographer/dancer
Commissioned for Vanity Fair
x38118
39. ‘The Niche Man Cometh’
Five fashion-accessory photographs, August 1988
40. Dick O’Dell, 1984
Record producer
Reproduced in Blitz ‘Portfolio,’ October 1984 (colour)
x38119
41. Pavement, (undated)
x126847
42. Jessica Rees, September 1984
Writer
Commissioned for Harpers and Queen
x45143
43. Paula Rego, February 1988
Painter
Commissioned for Art News (colour)
x38120
44. Theresa Russell, March 1987
Actress
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x38379
45. Peter Saville, 1983
Graphic designer
Commissioned for Blitz
x38121
46. Robert Saxton, March 1988
Composer
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
x38376
47. Scarlett, c.1984
Model/Artist
Commissioned for Harpers & Queen
53. Sorrell and Billing, December 1986
Commercial jingle writers
Commissioned for Campaign
x38126
54. Dolores Springer, April 1989
Singer with Deluxe
Commissioned for The Face
x38127
55. Malcolm Temple, January/February 1989
Artist
Commissioned for American House & Garden
x38128
56. Cleveland Watkiss, February 1989
Singer
Commissioned for The Face (colour)
x38129
Record Sleeves:
62. Holger Hiller
Oben im Eck
Mute Records, 1986
63. Howard Jones
One to One
Phonogram Records, 1986
64. Love and Money
Candybar Express
Phonogram Records, 1986
65. Love and Money
Dear John
Phonogram Records, 1986
66. The Pasadenas
To whom it may concern
CBS Records, 1988
67. Sly and Robbie
Language Barrier
Island Records, 1985
68. Melvyn Tan and Roger Norrington
EMI Classics, 1988
Tear sheets from The Face:
69. Blacksmith
April 1989
70. State of Mind
April 1989
71. True Funk Posse
April 1989
72. Cleveland Watkiss
February 1989
Tour
The exhibition was subsequently shown at Ipswich Museum (23 March – 18 May 1991), Essex County Council, Chelmsford (July – September 1991) and Maidstone Library Gallery (January – March 1992).