Tim Walker’s photographs have appeared in Vogue, month by month, for over a decade. Extravagant staging and romantic motifs characterise his style. After concentrating on the photographic still for 15 years, Tim Walker has begun directing short films.
- On graduation in 1994, Walker worked as a freelance photography assistant in London before moving to New York City as a full time assistant to Richard Avedon. On returning to England, he initially concentrated on portrait and documentary work for UK newspapers. At the age of 25, he shot his first fashion story for Vogue, and has photographed for the British, Italian, and American editions ever since.
- For more than a decade, Tim's exuberant pictures have helped to define style in the world's fashion magazines. And even in a bleak economic environment, his imagination and fairytale extravagance remain much in demand - whether it is Lily Cole eating from a giant indoor cake tree, Erin O'Connor dressed as a swan amongst geese or Otis Ferry posing indoors in pinks with beagles at his ankles.
- He draws upon his childhood to construct sets for his images that are witty and playful yet sufficiently sophisticated enough to perform for his fashion clients.
-Its the sort of thinking that I could imagine creating lots of fun during a shoot (aside from the hard work in creating it of course) as well as in conceiving his ideas.
- For instance, deciding to colour tint a group of cats or projecting a film onto the side of a house, or screen set within a rising tide at sunset. Or posing his models in an oversized knitted sweater and scarf, next to a huge camera or glove or under a tree bearing cakes.
- Tim creates evocative images full of textured nuance and intriguing detail and his innovative photography is amongst the most imaginative and exuberant being produced today.
- Fashion photographer, Tim Walker doesn’t seem to belong to the world of you or me. He’s a Peter Pan, a daydreamer, a fantasist. His pictures are mirages, telling stories conjured directly from an imagination that most of us left behind in childhood. Looking at Tim’s photographs is like following the white rabbit into a world where elephants are painted blue, horses are dusted lilac, paintings come to life and pretty girls with Thirties faces are transformed into marionettes or abandoned princesses.
-Tim creates photographs that evoke wonder – a skill as rare and fragile as one of his butterflies. In presenting his imagination to us, his photographs remind us of our own capacity to dream. And, even though his images are pure whimsy, they feel true because thy have been meticulously executed.” – by Charlotte Sinclair, 2008, British Vogue.
perhaps look into : Styles of 19th century architecture?
- Iin Tim Walkers work he uses alot of 19th century Artitecture for his locations.
-The public buildings, clubs and institutions of the early 19th century town illustrate the ambitions of the town’s middle classes.
http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/cities/manchester/an-introduction/styles-of-the-19th-century.htmlof-the-19th-century.html
Literature source `Narnia`
- Some people have said on articles that his photographs can transport them into another world, this made me think of the Chronicles of Narnia, enhancing a world of imagination, desire, and entertainment.
- From reading about enchantment and fantasy it made me think of the film/book ` The Chronicles of Narnia. And therefore I began to explore the narrative of this storyline.
- The book is a series of seven high fantasy novels for children. Written by Lewis between 1949 and 1954 The Chronicles of Narnia has been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, the stage, and film.
- Set in the fictional realm of Narnia, the narrative explores the concept of a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil. The series narrates the adventures of various children who play central roles in the unfolding history of that world. I believe when comparing to Tim walker's work he tries to illustrate some of these narratives within his photography creating the illusion a fantasy world.
•- When reading about this narrative I learn the Inspiration for the series was taken from multiple sources, including traditional Christian Greek, Turkish and Roman mythology, as well as from traditional British and Irish fairy tales.
Clothing couture/connection to fairytale? – theatrical clothing?
Fall 2008 Couture: Christian Dior
Paris Fashion Week AW 2012: Alexander McQueen
Sarah Burton has become a household name since she designed Kate Middleton’s wedding frock, but with her AW 2012 collection for Alexander McQueen she showed she was a fashion force to be reckoned with.Depicting the outlandish McQueen style, models clad in big fur creations, including puff short dresses and evening gowns, marched down the catwalk, while ruffles and pleats in skirts gave a nod to the Elizabethan dinner party.
Photography by Nick Knight VOGUE
Cecil Beaton similarities?
Costume-classical historical context, compare to original photo?
- Looking at Beaton's photographs and scrap-books I quickly realised how easy it is to find elements of his influence in much of Tim's own work .
•- The mad props, the fantastic backdrops, the inventiveness, the nervous energy that Tim has used to fantastic effect in the pages of Vogue and Vanity Fair and their brethren for the last decade...it was all here, in Beaton's pictures. Although, what Beaton started, Tim has certainly taken to astounding new levels.
•- “Beaton started life as a photographer in the 1920s,” he said, talking quietly, quickly. “His photos were often naively taken, but became famous and iconic. He made a natural progression from social photography, at tea parties and fun occasions, to professional photography. Because of this, his photographs have a sense of play, a sense of fancy dress and an elegance to them. He has a genuinely natural instinct for what is beautiful. He often used his sister and friends as models, he did shoots for fun and had fun doing them.”
Cecil Beaton self-portrait, 1930- Tim walker said :
"He took whatever was around him to use as props and composed images using his surroundings. This is a genuine gesture not often found in fashion photography now. That is why I am always going back to Beaton.”
“When I look at his photos I see a sense of unreality and fun. Looking at this photograph of Oliver Messel, who may have been a lover of Beaton’s, and was certainly a very good friend, you can see this sense of unreality”.
"Even during the war, Beaton used the fighting as inspiration and made fashion images with military props and battle scenery”.
“When you look at photos you get a sense of the person who took them, and the way they are feeling too. A photo is a mirror of the photographer.”
Juliet Bewicke, Horse in House, Eglingham Hall Tim Walker for British Vogue, 1998.
“A friend of Cecil Beaton’s was Lord Bernard. He was an eccentric, who brought his pony into the kitchen to have tea. I loved this, and did a whole shoot based on Bernard. I put a Spanish stallion inside this fabulous house, Eglingham Hall in Northumberland. I wanted to recreate the mood of Beaton’s work, rather than any kind of replication or tribute. The lady in this picture, Juliet Bewicke,” he said, pointing, “was one of the first models that Beaton used. She had a wonderful fur suit in the attic that she had had made to wear to the races back in the 30s or 40s, I persuaded her to put it on - it was great fun.”
http://www.memoirsofafashionindustryfailure.co.uk/2011/04/tim-walker-and-cecil-beaton.htmlbeaton.
“I took one of Oliver Messel ‘s stage designs and recreated it for a shoot I did the other day. I don't like to use image manipulation, so the giant swan had to be a real prop in the room. It was created using a large latex model of swan’s feet, and a huge flat blow-up of a picture of a swan positioned over them. It is a homage to fashion, surrealism and Beaton.”
I love this staircase picture, I love the location. that he randomly found when travelling. I think he wondered around knocking on doors, trying to get into buildings that he liked the look of. He found this staircase and loved it, so took a location picture. He showed it to the stylist at vogue, and suggested a dress with a long train. The stylist got in contact with Stella McCartney, who made this dress especially for the shoot. I think he also found it easy to construct photos in his mind when he saw the location.
Surrealism
•Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s.
•Surrealism in photography was one of the major revolutionary changes in the evolution of photography.
•Surrealism is the introduction of the ‘more than real' images to the art forms.
•surrealism was a break through in photography, which motivated the photographers for more experiments.
Surrealism was a movement in the art and intellectual activities, emerged after World War I.
•Andre Breton, was the founder of the surrealistic concepts and he has gathered the influence from the Dande movement.
•Surrealist photographs are described as the images, which symbolically represent dreams, night mares, intoxication, sexual ecstasy, hallucination and madness.
http://www.photorails.eu/articles5.html
-Going to look into the 2004-surrealism book from the library. ....
-The streak of surrealism in Tim's pictures is inescapable, informs Robin Muir, the photographic historian and former Picture Editor of British Vogue, in the introduction titled 'Paradise Regained' of the book Tim Walker Pictures.
Over emphasized props-drawing inspiration from surrealism art?
•His photo shoots remind me more of theatre sets.
•His staging and props are seen with immaculate detail, and texture.
•Everything he photographs is connected to his drawings of his childhood memories.
Tim Walker's Set Designer Talks the Fate of the Oversized Props —Set designer (and former Alexander McQueen art director) Simon Costin, who works with both Emma Summerton and Tim Walker, recently shared what happens to all the oversized props that have become a trademark in Walker's work: "It often breaks my heart to consign the props I create to the skip, but sadly, with them being so large, there is little alternative. When I work in NYC I can call Materials for the Arts and have things dropped off to them. Sadly London has yet to set something like that up. I’m pleased to say though, Tim has been able to store many things and has then displayed them at exhibitions of his work. The camera is one such prop."
http://www.fashionologie.com/3368843
After 1st tutorial, I realised I had to down-size my research and concentrate on less theories, so perhaps I could now explore theatre and film….
-I'm also going to explore the War time films by Michael Powell- `the red shoes` 1948.
•1940`s-50`s films- fantasy, escape connection to escaping from contemporary fashion?
•Explore Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory- psychological in Tim walkers work?
-The special effects used in the making of `AVATAR`, use the most significant technologies to create unique special effects. Where-as Tim walker uses extravert over sized props to create a similar effect….?
after all research I have decided to consider the questions :
•Qualities of surrealism?
•Romantic notion
•the belief of fairytale
•how he incorporates the belief of dreams.
-Extravagant and surreal staging and romantic motifs characterize his unmistakable and unique photographic hand writing. The spontaneity and the simplicity of the foreword explore Walker's effervescent romantic vision and seemingly endless surrealist ideas that invariably creep up from beneath the surface of his imagery.
The description of Tim's picture's show a romantic notion of an individual voice, of passion and of deep sentiment.
In general, definitions of Romanticism is known as an artistic and intellectual movement originating in Europe in the late 18th century and characterized by a heightened interest in nature, emphasis on the individual's expression of emotion and imagination, departure from the attitudes and forms of classicism, and rebellion against established social rules and conventions.
"Despite the lack of a concrete definition one can identify almost effortlessly the romantic soul behind Tim Walker's pictures. That is the way they make one feel. Baudelaire said that ,Romanticism is precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor in exact truth, but in a way of feeling." (Honour, 1979:14)
FANTASY
•fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic as an element of plot, theme or setting
•fantasy takes place in imaginary worlds where magic is common
•Fantasy includes fairy, tales, wizards, or witchcraft in events which avoid horror.
•Fantasy non-existent, it deals with the impossible.
•Dream-like stories, the reality of things is questionable? I could be real or could be delusion? E.g. Dorothy’s dream in the wizard of oz.
MAGIC
•Magic manipulates aspects of reality. It utilizes ways of understanding, experiencing and influencing the world.
•Magic id often viewed with suspicion
SURRELAISM
•Surrealism shocks and rebukes the conventional notion’s of reality
•Surrealism questions – what is real and not?
•Surrealism uses sexuality portrayed by symbolism and the placing of objects, where they normally wouldn’t be!
•Surrealism magnifies the common perception
•Surrealism was the main influence in 20th century
•Erocyticism,socialism,dreams and the sub-consous and symbolism portrays surrealism.
TIM WLAKER FACTS
• Tim Walker telling stories through imaginary childhood memory
• His photos evoke wonder/our won capacity of dream
• He makes his photos look real, hard to believe fantasy isn’t!
Models being transformed into fairytale characters by the designs of costume.
Bibliography
Caws, M.A. (2004) Surrealism. London: Phaidon Press Ltd.
Honour,H. (1979) Romanticism. London: Penguin Books Limited.
Krauss,R. and Livingston, J. (1986) L’Amour fou: Photography and Surrealism.USA: Abbeville Press and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Walker, T. (2008) Tim Walker Pictures. London: teNeues Publishing Group.
- The architecture of the High Victorian decades is dominated by Gothic Glossary Term and Italianate Glossary Term styles.
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