Study for a Sudden Gust
Study for ‘A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai)’, 1993
Jeff Wall
Transparency on lightbox
Painting into Photography
Jeff Wall’s work explores the boundary between truth and fiction, everyday life and fantasy, challenging the traditional notion that photography faithfully records reality. Wall initially trained as a painter and became interested in cinema, using large-scale photographs mounted on lightboxes as his signature medium. His work depicts landscapes and scenes of contemporary life, inviting viewers to unpick the entwining narratives of fleeting moments.
A Sudden Gust of Wind captures what seems like an instant frozen in time. It depicts four figures caught in a sudden gust that has swept across the open landscape. The photograph is, however, meticulously staged. The composition is based on a woodcut by Japanese painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), and it took Wall over a year and more than a hundred separate shots to complete.
On windy days, Wall photographed actors in a landscape outside Vancouver. He then collaged and digitally superimposed elements of the images together. This analogue process is visible in the nearby Study for A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai). The study also reveals the careful placement of the sheets of paper blowing in the air. They act as a marker of the wind’s direction and draw the visitor’s gaze across the work, animating the scene. There is no sense of connection between the figures; they appear to exist in different moments of time. Wall blurs the boundaries between movement and stillness. He weaves together the traditions of figurative painting with the technology of backlit photography and digital manipulation, to play with the illusion of spontaneity. Wall often declares that he is indebted to historic art, particularly ‘tableau’ paintings, where characters are staged for dramatic effect.*
From the exhibition
Capturing The Moment
(June 2023 – April 2024)
The arrival of photography changed the course of painting forever. In this unique exhibition, we explore the dynamic relationship between the two mediums through some of the most iconic artworks of recent times.
From the expressive paintings of Pablo Picasso and Paula Rego, to striking photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto and Jeff Wall, you will see how these two distinct mediums have shaped each other over time.
You will also discover how artists have blurred the boundaries between painting and photography, creating new and exciting forms of art, such as Pauline Boty's pop paintings, Andy Warhol’s silkscreen prints, the photorealist works of Gerhard Richter, or Andreas Gursky's large-scale panoramic photographs.
In an open-ended conversation between some of the greatest painters and photographers of the modern era, we explore how the brush and the lens have been used to capture moments in time.
Through a selection of modern and contemporary art, Capturing the Moment explores the relationship between the brush and the lens, and how artists have turned to painting and photography to capture moments in time. Rather than attempt a definitive account of the dialogue between the two media, an open-ended discussion is encouraged through varying depictions of people and place that invite us on a journey through recent art history.
[*Tate Modern]
Taken at the Tate Modern
Study for a Sudden Gust
Study for ‘A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai)’, 1993
Jeff Wall
Transparency on lightbox
Painting into Photography
Jeff Wall’s work explores the boundary between truth and fiction, everyday life and fantasy, challenging the traditional notion that photography faithfully records reality. Wall initially trained as a painter and became interested in cinema, using large-scale photographs mounted on lightboxes as his signature medium. His work depicts landscapes and scenes of contemporary life, inviting viewers to unpick the entwining narratives of fleeting moments.
A Sudden Gust of Wind captures what seems like an instant frozen in time. It depicts four figures caught in a sudden gust that has swept across the open landscape. The photograph is, however, meticulously staged. The composition is based on a woodcut by Japanese painter and printmaker Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), and it took Wall over a year and more than a hundred separate shots to complete.
On windy days, Wall photographed actors in a landscape outside Vancouver. He then collaged and digitally superimposed elements of the images together. This analogue process is visible in the nearby Study for A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai). The study also reveals the careful placement of the sheets of paper blowing in the air. They act as a marker of the wind’s direction and draw the visitor’s gaze across the work, animating the scene. There is no sense of connection between the figures; they appear to exist in different moments of time. Wall blurs the boundaries between movement and stillness. He weaves together the traditions of figurative painting with the technology of backlit photography and digital manipulation, to play with the illusion of spontaneity. Wall often declares that he is indebted to historic art, particularly ‘tableau’ paintings, where characters are staged for dramatic effect.*
From the exhibition
Capturing The Moment
(June 2023 – April 2024)
The arrival of photography changed the course of painting forever. In this unique exhibition, we explore the dynamic relationship between the two mediums through some of the most iconic artworks of recent times.
From the expressive paintings of Pablo Picasso and Paula Rego, to striking photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto and Jeff Wall, you will see how these two distinct mediums have shaped each other over time.
You will also discover how artists have blurred the boundaries between painting and photography, creating new and exciting forms of art, such as Pauline Boty's pop paintings, Andy Warhol’s silkscreen prints, the photorealist works of Gerhard Richter, or Andreas Gursky's large-scale panoramic photographs.
In an open-ended conversation between some of the greatest painters and photographers of the modern era, we explore how the brush and the lens have been used to capture moments in time.
Through a selection of modern and contemporary art, Capturing the Moment explores the relationship between the brush and the lens, and how artists have turned to painting and photography to capture moments in time. Rather than attempt a definitive account of the dialogue between the two media, an open-ended discussion is encouraged through varying depictions of people and place that invite us on a journey through recent art history.
[*Tate Modern]
Taken at the Tate Modern