Capturing the forgotten alchemy of a medium often considered to serve a purely documentary function, Alexander James creates meticulously crafted scenes immersed in dark tanks of water. For the most part he destroys these creations, leaving behind only the medium format transparencies as documents of these acts.

Through careful manipulation of water and light and without the use of postproduction techniques, the artist has produced a new series of photographic works that weave a deviant historical thread between the mechanical reproduction of today’s image making and the meticulous realism and existential gaze of painters such as Pieter Claesz of the 16th Century Vanitas tradition of painting.

With direct reference to the classical paintings ‘Ophelia’ (1851–52) by John Everett Millais and ‘La Jeune Martyre’ (1855) by Paul De La Roche, ‘A beautiful announcement of death’ takes the tragic story of Hamlet’s Ophelia as a central focus, drawing also a comparison with Alexander James’ own personal experience of a former lover’s suicide.

In James’ practice the camera, like the painter’s oils, is a tool in which to eternally preserve the bodies of the artist’s subjects: at times a collection of inanimate objects held in a purgatory state and at others the bodies of characters inscribed with historical and personal narratives, which the final image forever tells. It is both ironic and telling that water, the very element which for the Greek Philosopher Heraclitus stood as a symbol for the unstoppable mill of time, changing everything in its wake, serves precisely as the functional device through which he achieves the mesmerizing painterly effect of his photographs.

In his new body of work Alexander James is often found in direct dialogue with the painters that have inspired him as he participates in the age-old practice of contextualizing antiquities stories. In ‘A beautiful announcement of death’ photography emerges as a perplexing aporia, a kind of sorcery which successfully presences the past and yet only brings up ghosts.

A beautiful announcement of death – opens 11th May to June 15th

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She decided to move in another direction and by the mid 60’s Lillian was feeling despondent with career prospects, so in 1969 she decided to destroy a large collection of her original negatives; she commented ‘that it was necessary at the time’.

Later in 1992 they were found by Martin Harrison, a fashion curator and historian who was staying at her house who persuaded Lillian to revisit them. She did by reprinting the negs, bleaching, toning and applying chemical reactants to the images creating an abstract set of works that were more mysterious than before. A technique she was experimenting with back in the 40’s.

This sense of refined playfulness has made her work iconic, here are just a a few of my favorites from her gift to us all; including a fitting farewell at the end.

Known for being the first woman photographer to join the ranks of the Magnum Photo agency. “She will perhaps be best remembered for her exceptional photographs of people; the famous, politicians, musicians, artists and the unknown, her intimate, sensitive and compassionate ten year collaboration with Marilyn Monroe has cemented her as one of the most iconic portrait photographers of our time, but it is the long term reportage stories that drove Arnold’s curiosity and passion.” says her agency.

During her long career, Arnold published more than 15 monographs. Later this month, TeNeues will release All About Eve, a 216-page retrospective of her work, including some of her most iconic images, as well as many never-before published images.

Whilst celebrity imagery is not a genre I hold a particular fondness for; I could name a lot of past and current photographers whose talents are nothing more than newsworthy in my opinion. For me the question is; were they great photographers or did they just spend five minutes with someone famous in front of their lens; and make the rest of their career spinning off of the experience? Eve Arnold was different, I truly admire the intimacy of her work and the level of respect she earned from her subjects and piers alike over a lifetime refining her craft.

You can hear Eve discuss her work recorded in 1990 on the BBC radio website and you can read her obituary published in the LA Times here.

Marilyn Monroe at the gaming tables in Reno, Nevada during filming of The Misfits. 1960

Silvana Mangano at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.1956

Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Shepperton, England.1963