Opening alongside Photo London and running through June 30th, 2026, Up Close at Hamiltons Gallery brings together key figures in twentieth-century photography to examine intimacy, proximity, and the charged space between subject and lens. Featuring works by Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Daidō Moriyama, Herb Ritts, Hiro, Erwin Olaf, and Horst P. Horst, the exhibition frames photography as an emotional encounter as much as a visual record.
Twentieth-century photography and the art of looking closely
Curated by Hamilton’s founder Tim Jefferies, the exhibition revisits the tactile power of fashion photography and portraiture in an era dominated by fleeting digital images. Visitors move through carefully staged prints that reward slowness and close attention.
Highlights include Newton’s 1991 portrait of Cindy Crawford in Saint-Tropez, Richard Avedon’s iconic 1959 portrait of Brigitte Bardot—later echoed in works by Andy Warhol — and Irving Penn’s Cottage Tulip, where a flower takes on an almost human fragility. Moriyama’s grain-heavy 1969 screenprint captures the raw pulse of postwar Japan, while works by Hiro, William Wegman, and Horst extend the conversation into surrealism, memory, and cultural mythologies.
Approaching its fiftieth anniversary, Hamiltons presents an exhibition that feels both reflective and sharply contemporary—a reminder that photography still asks us to pause, observe, and truly look.
Brigette Bardot, January 1959, 1959
Courtesy of RICHARD AVEDON FOUNDATION
Cottage Tulip: Sorbet, NYC, 1967
Courtesy of CONDÉ NAST
Cindy on the Place de Lys, St Tropez, for American Vogue, 1991
Courtesy of HELMUT NEWTON FOUNDATION
Early Morning West Hartlepool, County Durham, 1963
Courtesy of DON MCCULLIN
