Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present (Unabridged‪)‬

EM Forster's famous dictum "Only connect!" is often quoted out of context but it is a resoundingly emotive phrase which might also be taken as the motto for the first major excursion by the National Gallery, London, into the history, portent and meaning of photography as a medium. Before Seduced by Art: Photography Past and Present, the National Gallery has only exhibited the work of a contemporary photographer on one occasion. Peter Blake, an artist famous for using many found sources including photographs in his work, much of which is based on elaborate collage and montage, was an artist-in-residence at the gallery in 1994-1996. But even the most tolerant observer would characterize the National Gallery's handling of contemporary art and/or photography as patchy, if not downright wobbly. This reviewer's experience has been that most of the gallery's interventions, however laudable in intent, have, with exceptions, diminished the contemporary and obscured the historic.