SIR ELTON JOHN and David Furnish have a collection of 7,000 photographs, out of which the V&A has selected 300 for an exhibition called Fragile Beauty. The work of 140 photographers is represented, split into sections such as Fashion; Stars of Stage, Screen and Studio; Reportage; the American Scene; Desire; Constructed Images; and Towards Abstraction. Visitors are warned: “This exhibition contains adult themes, including depictions of substance use, death, nudity and sexual intercourse.
” The curators are Duncan Forbes and Lydia Caston of the V&A, who have collaborated with Newell Harbin, director of the collection which Sir Elton and Furnish began in the 1990s. In the preface to the catalogue, they say: “We invite audiences to find their own pathways and select their own favourite photographs.” Which is exactly what I did.
I walked round the whole exhibition in 15 minutes and then focused on the ones I really wanted to see. If I had to pick one, it would be of a man plummeting to earth when the Twin Towers in New York were hit on September 11, 2001. The Falling was taken by Richard Drew.
Sir Elton commented: “For me, one of the most beautiful images that I’ve got is the man falling from the World Trade Center by Richard Drew. The man is falling in a straight line. It’s the most beautifully geometric photograph you can possibly make, in the most tragic circumstances.
The photograph was on the front page of several newspapers when it happened and they had to take .
