Artist Kirsty Mitchell just tipped us off to a brand new exhibition by one of our very favorite photographers. From now till January 27, 2013, visit Somerset House in London to see Tim Walker: Story Teller. Famed fashion photographer Tim Walker, who’s had his work featured in the world’s leading magazines like American and Italian Vogue, Vanity Fair, W and The New Yorker, is showcasing some of his most fascinating photographs alongside the extraordinary props he used to create them including a doomed Spitfire fighter plane and a giant bumblebee playing the cello. For those unfamiliar with Walker’s work, he’s a master at turning fashion stories into fairy tales.
As it says on a wall of his exhibition, “In the end, Walker exults in fashion photography’s pretense, the mystique and the charade, the luxuriant drape of cloth, the flowers and the decoration, and the happiness of it all – the unmitigated joy of a world which, even when it tries to be normal, just can’t ever be ordinary.”
Briony Whitehouse of a girl, a style, was lucky enough to attend the opening and had this to say, “If you find yourself in London between now and January, I can’t recommend a visit to the exhibition enough. I don’t want to give everything away, suffice to say the exhibition is a showcase of many of Tim’s most beautiful portraits and editorials, all brought to life by many of his most extravagant props (of the grandest proportions) that will make you squeal with delight. I had only intended to stop by the exhibition for the briefest period, but I was so caught up in the view of the world as seen through Tim’s extraordinary lens that, like Alice in her Wonderland, I fell down that rabbit hole and wasn’t sure when I wanted to return to reality.”
To coincide with this exhibition, Thames & Hudson published Story Teller, the book, which features over 175 inspirational images, collages and snapshots from Walker’s personal archives, many of which are on display in this beautifully bizarre exhibition.
Somerset House website
Photos via [Somerset House], [a girl, a style]
More by Tim Walker:
Tim Burton’s Magical Fashion – Harper’s Bazaar Oct ’09
Giveaway!: Tim Walker’s Fantastic Photography Book
Tim Walker’s Street Sign Illusions
Kate Moss in Haute Couture at the Ritz Paris