Fragile Beauty is the latest exhibition of works drawn from Sir Elton John and David Furnish’s vast collection of iconic photography, currently on at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. Titled to reflect the vulnerability that often inspires creativity, the show highlights three hundred of the 7000+ pieces in the couple’s photography collection. The somewhat overwhelming exhibition covers imagery created from 1950 onwards and is split into different section – fashion photography, Hollywood, the queer male form, photojournalism, a dedicated area to Robert Mapplethorpe and Nan Goldin, and abstract imagery. There’s so much going on here, but if you focus on the fashion, queer and more underground imagery, then you will be in for a treat as the images of your life are played back to you.
Almost every major photographer from the past eighty years is included, and most of the imagery will feel familiar, almost over-familiar to the seasoned viewer, so this show is more of a nostalgic trip down 
memory lane than a journey of discovery. Highlights for me included the huge perspex cube featuring every image from Nan Goldin’s seminal book, The Ballad of Sexual Dependency. The male nude section includes iconic imagery by Robert Mapplethorpe, George Platt Lynes, Herb Ritts, Andy Warhol, Bruce Weber, Sunil Gupta, Don Herron and Tom Bianchi, a thought-provoking collection of images, many from the era of peak AIDS.
The 1990s, with greater acceptance and better HIV health, gave more life and energy to the queer community and this is reflected in the more relaxed, confident, fun, sexy imagery of Ryan McGinley, Pierre & Gilles, Walter Pfeiffer and Bruce Bellas.
William Klein’s iconic 1988 Act Up, Atlanta image and Richard Drew’s The Falling Man, 11 September 2001 will both stop you in your tracks in the Reportage section.
Ryan McGinley and Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s 1990s studies of young Americans will remind you of how fabulous America was in the 1990s, and how relatively easy living on the fringes of US society was back then.
Towards the end of the show you may start wondering on the ethics of one couple owning so many pieces of work, the time they must spend in the acquisition and where is everything housed. But if anyone should own this collection, given his contribution to charity, its Sir Elton, and at least it’s a fab old queer with great taste who’s acquiring the works and helping keep the iconic photographer community in bread and butter.
Instagram temporarily suspended my account for posting one of the Ryan McGinley nude images, an important reminder that queer censorship remains rife. So, thank you to the V & A for not playing it too safe with the curation. Overall, a good show, albeit unsurprising and a little too wide-ranging in content. A lot of the beautiful subjects are no longer with us, a stark reflection of the fragile, fleeting beauty of life.
Queerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
Labels: 2024, Elton John & David Furnish, Fragile Beauty, Photography collection, review, Ris Fatah, V & A
