Atlas Gallery of Photography at Snape Maltings.

I came across this gallery when I was working on my previous project (positioning a point) and had no idea it was there.

Atlas Gallery opened a new gallery space at Snape Maltings, Suffolk, to coincide with the 2011 Aldeburgh Festival, Snap Festival, which features work by a number of contemporary British artists and photographers.  The new gallery is the first extension of the main gallery in London where Atlas have built up their reputation specialising in photography in the UK.

The new gallery, the creation of its founder and director, Ben Burdett, provides an added visual arts space at the already present Snape Maltings concert hall site. The original Aldeburgh Festival was founded by Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears over sixty years ago as a Festival of Music and the Arts. The Atlas Gallery provides an extra, new dimension presenting photography alongside the already present galleries, auditoria and concert halls. Work that is to be  exhibited will include documentary, landscape, fashion, and contemporary works. The main gallery in London has provided expert advice to a wide variety of institutions and corporate collections, as well as to private collections, small and large over more recent years. The gallery aims to “bring this expertise to a new audience at Snape, whilst also helping those to appreciating fine photography in the deeper understanding of its many complexities.”

The exhibition displays examples of vintage and contemporary work, with solo exhibitions by some of the most renowned names in the history of photography.

The gallery is housed in an old out building on the maltings site. The photographs are just around the white walls of the fairly large room with quite a lot of unused space in the centre. Below I have included some of the images seen.



Elliot Erwitt, Cannes, France, 1975



Elliot Erwitt, Cannes, France, 1975 


I like the contrast between these two images. The first seems like a nice calm sunny day with two people just enjoying the weather. Without their presence in the second image there is much more movement with the wind blowing through the empty seats. I find this second photograph much more interesting because of this as the first image is a bit too static.

Ernst Haas, Albert Einstein, Princeton, New Jersey, 1953

Everyone who looks at this photograph will instantly know who is pictured. Einstein is stood in what appears to be his office, surrounded by many books and papers in what can only be described as chaos.  Even though this picture looks like it has been spontaneously taken I am sure that much thought has gone into the exact location of the shot and Einstein’s positioning. With him centred in the frame he is very much the subject without the overall image appearing dull.

 

Dominique Tarle, Mick and Keith, Villa Nellcote, 1971.

This photograph obviously shows Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. With this picture it seems as though you are catching a glimpse of their lives, as if you are there with them. There are another two glasses at the table, who else is relaxing with them?

Nick Brandt, Portrait of two zebras turning heads, Ngorongoro Crater, 2005

At first glance it seems as though the image of the zebra has just been replicated. Taking a closer look there are slight differences  with the stripes on their bodies and faces and the zebra on the right is resting its left hind leg. This is also a much more modern looking shot compared to the others and I could image it hanging on the wall in peoples houses.

I feel it is easy for people to connect with this exhibition as you are bound to either recognise the name of the photographer, the place being photographed of the famous faces in many of the pieces regardless of how interested in photography you are.