Catherine Opie had a bumper year in 2016, with incredible shows at both LACMA and The Hammer Museum. These twin exhibitions confirmed her legacy as a photographer who captures the warmth of humanity in its many forms. And now, for the first time, her intimate photographs of late actress and superstar Elizabeth Taylor’s Los Angeles home are on view.
Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road presents work made over the course of six months at the Bel-Air mansion where Taylor lived. The exhibition’s photographs are drawn from two series: Closets and Jewels, and 700 Nimes Road. Inspired by William Eggleston’s images of Elvis Presley’s Memphis estate, Graceland, Opie has created a beautiful portrait of Taylor from her personal space and mementos.
The images immortalize Taylor’s rooms, closets (plural!), shoes, clothing, and jewelry, offering a mysterious and outrageous portrait of a life defined by wealth and fame. Opie reconsiders Taylor’s mythology from an all-new perspective, casting her as an illusory subject whose essence can never be precisely captured.
Like an investigative photojournalist, Opie documents each detail of the icon’s home, using a wide range of visual scales. With a close eye for detail, she portrays every little object — from Oscar statuettes to tapestries — providing hints at how particular Taylor was about the things that she loved.
“The project is not about the relationship to celebrity, but about the relationship to what is human,” explains Opie in the show’s press release.
“Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road” is organized by The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and is on view at the NSU Art Museum in Ft. Lauderdale until June 18.
Credits
Text Jo Rosenthal
Photos courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and The NSU Art Museum, Ft Lauderdale
Lede Image:Catherine Opie, Balloon Shades from the 700 Nimes Road Portfolio, 2010-2011, pigment print, 16 ½ x 22 in., courtesy of the artist, Regen Projects, Los Angeles, and Lehmann Maupin,New York & Hong Kong