Elton John Photo Collection the fascinating Fragile Beauty of Life
Assembling the Elton John Photo Collection
Marilyn Monroe in the Nevada desert going over her lines for a difficult scene © Eve Arnold
Origin of the Elton John Photo Collection
Elton John is celebrated for his enormous impact on the music world, his philanthropic work and prominent support for fellow musicians and visual artists. Alongside these endeavours, he has amassed the Elton John photo collection since 1990.
Poppy, 1988 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
Since emerging in the 1970s with his upbeat songs and fantastically staged performances, dressed in elaborate costumes, Sir Elton John has stayed on top of the charts by continuing to work in different creative industries.
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He has won countless awards and is one of the rare entertainers to have won all four major American art awards, the EGOT – including an Emmy, five Grammys, two Academy Awards (Oscars) and a Tony Award.
In 1998, Queen Elizabeth awarded him the title of Knight Bachelor for his service to the music industry and charitable works, which gave him the title for which he is now known – Sir Elton John. In 2020, Prince Charles (now King Charles II) gave him an Order of the Companions of Honour for his outstanding achievements.
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Sir Elton John came to look at and then love photography, recognising it as a consequential art form through a series of gorgeous black-and-white fashion photos by Horst P. Horst, Irving Penn and Herb Ritts.
Versace Dress (Back View), El Mirage, 1990 © Herb Ritts Foundation
His attraction to the medium was immediate, and he started his collection with an initial purchase of photographs by these iconic photographers.
Collecting then became “the love of my life – in art terms”, he said. “Once I started collecting, I became avaricious about it.”
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He shares this with his husband, David Furnish. When they first met, they quickly found they shared a common love of photography. While looking through photo books, they couldn’t stop talking about their shared interest.
Chet Baker, New York City, 1956 © Herman Leonard Photography, LLC
The Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection was born from this shared passion. The unrivalled collection of over 7,000 photographic prints includes the finest examples of twentieth- and twenty-first-century photography.
David Furnish shared passion for fine photography
As much as they like to collect photographs, they are also avid about showing and sharing them with the world and generously loaning them out for exhibitions.
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In Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection, the V&A is showing an extract of over three hundred contemporary prints by one hundred forty photographers.
Fragile Beauty at the V&A
The exhibition presents varied themes such as fashion, reportage and the human experience from the 1950s to the present day and shows the breadth and depth of the collectors’ infatuations and interests.
The intensely personal work of American photographer and activist Nan Golden, Thanksgiving, is an especially poignant purchase for the collecting pair. The work is a set of photographs taken during a period of Nan Golden’s life from 1973 to 1999.
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Originally an installation that covered the White Cube gallery walls from floor to ceiling, Sir Elton John said that as soon as he saw the complete set of photographic work, it took his breath away and purchased the display in its entirety in 1999.
Malcolm X, Chicago, Illinois, USA, 1962 © Eve Arnold Magnum
He said that the work summed up a time in Golden’s life brilliantly, and he considers it one of the greatest achievements of photography.
Nan Golden brilliantly captured a pivotal era
The subject matter of AIDS, addiction and people living life on the fringe of society was a powerful reminder of a time when some choices came with tremendous risks. He believes this is amongst the most important pieces in his collection.
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David Furnish said that this work “spoke to us so personally.” The photos remind viewers of a time in the 1980s when AIDS was scary and still a huge unknown. Having lived through this period, they were moved by Golden’s personal timestamp, which revealed tremendously tragic and incredibly powerful moments in her life.
Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection
There are images that show carefree and wistful moments, yet a cloud of danger and, at times, sadness looms over the subjects.
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Golden’s work demonstrated the potential of photography to present honest and sometimes heartbreaking stories.
Furnish said, “of the many things we love about photography is the ability to chronicle a moment in time, to capture it, preserve it, so that it’s around forever and we never forget it.”
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John said, “for me nothing speaks the truth more like a photograph.”
Crying Men (Laurence Fishburne), 2002 © Sam Taylor-Johnson
On display at the V&A show is a broad spectrum of candid narratives by pre-eminent photographers.
Mapplethorpe is a favourite of the Elton John photo collection
Robert Mapplethorpe’s photos are amongst the most numerous in the collection, with over a hundred prints, including six self-portraits. Mapplethorpe’s Poppy and Self Portrait show the range of his innovative photographic vision and the reason why he is one of the collectors’ favoured photographers.
Robert Mapplethorpe, Self Portrait, 1985 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation
Fashion photography by Herb Ritts, their friend and one of the most celebrated and sought-after creative fashion photographers of his time, is represented with outstanding images such as Versace Dress (Back View), El Mirage, which shows a model with a fabulous flowing dress.
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Numerous illustrious photographers have photographed John, and some of these are in the show, including David LaChapelle’s photo Elton John: Egg On His Face.
Elton John, Egg On His Face, New York, 1999 © David LaChapelle
Images of celebrities, performers and personalities abound, including those of Marilyn Monroe in the Nevada, Malcolm X by Eve Arnold and Crying Men (Laurence Fishburne) by Sam Taylor-Johnson.
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Although Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection is a small sample from this enormous assembly of iconic images, it nonetheless provides a good snapshot of this important body of creative work.
Text Cammy Yiu & V&A, Photos courtesy of the V&A
