Some of the most famous and instantly recognisable faces of 20th and 21st century culture engage the viewer directly or appear to gaze distractedly elsewhere in Hampshire Cultural Trust’s retrospective of the internationally renowned photographer, Paul Joyce, in the year of his 80th birthday.
Celebrated for his painterly eye, Hampshire-born Joyce often chose formal or classic poses for his subjects, many of whom are icons of film, art, music, theatre and, of course, photography.
In A Life Behind the Lens, at The Gallery, Winchester Discovery Centre, Joyce’s sitters also mark historical moments in a variety of genres, not least his capturing of three legends of photography: Ansel Adams, Bill Brandt and Brassai, sitting together on a bench, in the garden of the V&A in 1976. His portraits of celebrated movie makers, including Sir Carol Reed, Francis Ford Coppola and Quentin Tarantino, show his fine eye for revealing character and expression through close-up shots of their faces.
The classic phrase ‘I’m ready for my close-up’ is exemplified by his portraits of film stars such as Dennis Hopper (shot in Venice, California in 1994), Sophia Loren (Geneva, 1995), Martin Sheen (West Hollywood, 1996) and Robert Redford (Sundance, 1994). This phrase came from one of Hollywood’s greatest film noirs, Sunset Boulevard directed by the legendary Billy Wilder, also a subject of one of Paul’s iconic portraits.
His artistic skills are also demonstrated in unflinching, but sympathetic, portraits of such luminaries as fellow photographer, Bill Brandt, writer and film star, Dirk Bogarde, and singer, Eartha Kitt. Joyce wonderfully captures both the fragility and deep intelligence of the comedian and author Spike Milligan, in an image that suggests the influence of Renaissance masters such as Titian, Raphael and Van Eyck on Paul’s own portraiture.
Close friend David Hockney appears several times in the exhibition, from a rather youthful-looking artist standing in front of one of his paintings in 1981, to a photo taken in Bridlington just a decade ago, which was inspired by Orson Welles’s film, The Trial. Here, the artist stands against a brick wall, with rays of light passing between the exterior stairs creating geometric shapes on the brickwork and Hockney’s suit.
The reciprocal aspect of their friendship is demonstrated by the inclusion of a painting of Paul, created by Hockney himself.
Born in 1940, Paul Joyce spent his early childhood in Whitchurch, Hampshire, before building a global reputation as a documentary film maker, writer, photographer and painter. The great-great-nephew of James Joyce, it was perhaps inevitable that Paul would become a photographer and artist.
To celebrate his life and work, A Life Behind the Lens brings together more than 50 of Paul’s exceptional portraits, along with a selection of paintings and objects that reflect his remarkable career.
Although his first exhibition was in Nottingham in 1974 - followed by his breakthrough exhibition, Elders, at the National Portrait Gallery in 1978 – Joyce had already created an international stir, with his iconic, 1967 portrait of Jane Fonda as ‘Barbarella’. Ironically, having been invited to shoot a film about the making of the movie by Paramount Pictures, Paul had the chance to try his hand at photography and duly borrowed Nikon and Leica equipment from the Magnum photographer, David Hurn. It was the first time that he had seriously handled a still camera and he still thanks Hurn for this gesture of friendship and encouragement.
Relying on his guile, charm and wit, Joyce often had to coax his subjects into agreeing to be photographed. In the case of Beckett, he explained just how resourceful he could be: “He (Beckett) hated to be photographed. Sam was rehearsing Happy Days with Billie Whitelaw at the Royal Court Theatre in ‘79 and he’d invited me to the rehearsals. The theatre had a little yard where they used to back lorries in for scenery to be delivered, so I left the camera on a tripod outside, close to a pile of black rubbish sacks and a broken chair without a full set of legs. There was a fire escape up to the bar and I knew that Sam had a Guinness at lunch. So, I waited until he’d had a couple of pints and then said, “Photograph?” and he at first protested, but I said if you come down to the yard, you’ll see that it’s all set up down there. So, he went down the stairs and he looked outside and saw this tip below, and all those black and purple bags, and he said, “Ah, wonderful, rubbish!” And I said, yes, that’s right. Tons of it!”
Complimenting the many famous and well-known faces, the exhibition includes a number of photographic landscapes, not least because Joyce cites the influence of the renowned landscape painters Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland on his work.
The exhibition is curated by Colin Ford CBE, former director of the National Museum of Wales. It was Ford who curated Joyce’s first London exhibition, Elders, at the National Portrait Gallery in 1978. He says “The introduction I wrote in the catalogue of Paul’s 2010 exhibition Unseen Portraits 1967-2009 begins “It is astonishing to be reminded (but impossible to deny) that Paul Joyce first showed me some of his early photographic portraits at the National Portrait Gallery more than thirty years ago.” Now forty-five years later, it seems even more amazing, but very pleasurable, to be able to round off a story which began when I was the first curator of photography in any British national museum or gallery, and to recognise how well his pictures have stood up to the test of time.”
A life behind the lens: Paul Joyce
The Gallery, Winchester Discovery Centre, Winchester
27 August– 10 November 2021
For more information about A Life Behind the Lens and other exhibitions throughout Hampshire, follow @HantsCulture on Twitter and Instagram, like the Hampshire Cultural Trust Facebook page, or visit www.hampshireculture.org.uk
Image:s © Paul Joyce. Top: Sophia Loren . Lower: David Hockney.
