Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road (2010-11)


Poignant exhibition at Tate Modern of photographs of Elizabeth Taylor’s house and possessions by Catherine Opie taken just before and after Taylor’s death.

Opie got access to the house as she and Taylor had the same accountant but she never met Taylor. The pictures form a portrait of a person without showing the person themselves and record the opulent and the personal.

The only picture of Taylor is a photograph of the famous Andy Warhol print which starts the sequence. The rest of the pictures record rooms and the detail of her possessions such as her make-up and handbags, shown reflected in a mirror in the picture I’ve used for this article.

I loved the pictures of the garden including beautiful roses and a fish in the pond.

Closes 17 November 2019

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