Dmitri Kasterine and Mary McCartney - on display at National Portrait Gallery

There were displays of work by these two photographers, maybe 20 photographs each. As you would expect at NPG, these were all portrait photographs. It was interesting to study the contrasting styles of these photographers.

Dmitri Kasterine

Kasterine was active as a photographer in UK and USA for magazines, and is known for a close association with Stanley Kubrick. The portraits in NPG were mainly of famous cultural figures, painters, writers, actors. The portraits were black and white, they seem to have been taken in nature light with a plain wall or dark plants as background. The figures are sitting or standing still with quite solemn expressions looking directly at the camera. The sitters hands seemed to be particularly prominent (even where the hands are not visible e.g. Martin and Kingsley Amis are both standing with their hands in their pockets). The hands are clasped, or the arms folded, resting on the knees. His portrait of Samuel Beckett epitomises these characteristics.

Mary McCartney

The NPG collection of her photographs are mainly famous figures from the world of dance, fashion and other celebrities. The portraits are in colour, and there is a mix of interior and exterior scenes. The backgrounds of some are quite busy with bookshelves, office furniture etc. The characteristic that I particularly noted with her pictures is that the figures are almost all active. She seems to follow the style of Henri Cartier-Bresson of trying to take a photograph of the person at an expressive moment in a conversation. This style can be seen in her portrait of Billie Jean King.