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Curtis Moffat trained and worked as a painter and interior designer before becoming a photographer. If you go to the V&A’s other current photography exhibition on Lee Miller, you’ll see a lot of similarities between the two talented photographers.
Both Moffat and Miller started off in careers others than photography. They were both New Yorkers, lived in Paris and the UK, took glamorous society portraits, collaborated with Man Ray and worked with innovative photographic techniques. After their deaths their respective siblings wished their work to continue to be enjoyed. In fact this exhibition is a result of Curtis Moffat’s daughter donating her father’s precious archive to the V&A.
Image by Curtis Moffat
In the mid 1920s Moffat gained a reputation for taking society portraits. The exhibition’s most engaging portrait is that of a Miss Rosemary Fottergill. It’s given pride of place at the end of the gallery and really draws you into the exhibition. Like Miss Fothergill, many of his portraits are the epitome of 1920s and 1930s glamour – featuring feathers and furs, accompanied by striking poses and strong directional lighting. Some images even have his crop marks, showing how the emphasis and impact of a photograph can be easily altered.
Moffat worked with Man Ray on both portraits and photograms. If you’ve ever thought about playing around with photographic paper to create your own photograms, you’ll find Moffat’s images a great source of inspiration. Objects are simply placed on photographic paper and exposed to light to form a camera-less photo. It’s a technique that owes as much to planning as it does luck!
Image by Curtis Moffat
Image by Curtis Moffat
For me one of most impressive images is a particularly striking dragonfly, which uses a slightly different technique to the other photograms. Here Moffat placed the dragonfly in a photographic enlarger head, the same way you would normally use a film negative. He then projected his subject as an enlargement onto photographic paper, achieving a surreal and magical feel.
The final section of the show is devoted Moffat’s pioneering work with the tri-carbon colour print process. It’s a notoriously tricky process, taking around two weeks to complete each image, but the effects are arguably worth the effort.
In 1939 Moffat moved back to America and rekindled his love of painting, leaving his photographic days behind him. Thankfully, due to the generousity of his family, we can now relive those days at the V&A.
Exhibition runs until 13th January 2008
Admission free
See www.vam.ac.uk for details
