Icons

From September 29, 2023 to January 13, 2024, the Leica Gallery Frankfurt is showing the exhibition "Icons" by world-famous photographer David Hurn. The show includes a wide-ranging selection of his legendary photographs, including those of the Beatles, Jane Fonda, Sean Connery as well as landscape and social studies of his native Wales.

Hurn manages to capture moments of extraordinary humor with his focused and spontaneous eye. His pictures often combine the bizarre with the social-historical. They are studies of society in visual form, inviting viewers to join him on a very personal journey through contemporary events. In 2017, he donated around 1,500 of his own photographs and the majority of his valuable collection to Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales in Cardiff.

The exhibition includes a photograph of a retired man joyfully trying to catch a balloon and a shot of two sheep huddled together in a narrow old hut seeking shelter from the rain. Also on display are his famous shots of the Beatles, whom he followed closely in the 1960s. The picture of two dancing girls who have to prove themselves at a contest shows a section of society that can be viewed both amusingly and critically.

David Hurn was born in Wales in 1934. As one of the great documentary photographers who made contemporary history, he began his career in 1955 and made a name for himself with his made a name for himself with his photographic coverage of the Hungarian uprising in 1956. In addition to social documentary assignments, he photographed many iconic personalities from film and music. He became a full member of the world-famous Magnum Photos agency in 1967.

In Newport, Wales, he founded the famous School of Documentary Photography in 1973. Hurn is not only in demand as a photographer, but also for lectures and workshops all over the world.

In addition to numerous individual works, including Photographs 1956-1976 (1979), Wales: Land of My Father (2000), Writing the Picture (2010), The 1960s (2015), Arizona Trips (2017), he is represented in a large number of anthologies. In 2017, a 40-minute BBC documentary was made about him: David Hurn - A Life in Pictures. In June of this year, an illustrated book with his most famous photographs was published, starting in 1955 and spanning almost 70 years. The compilation covers Hurn's entire career, chronologically and for the first time in printed form.

David Hurn enjoys an international reputation as one of the most influential British reportage photographers. His prints are acquired by many leading collectors and museums. He continues to live and work from his home in Tintern, Wales.