Cruel and Tender: The Real in the Twentieth Century Photograph

Cruel and Tender: The Real in the Twentieth Century Photograph, the first exhibition at the Tate dedicated to photography, brought together a collection of realist works by over twenty of the most important photographers of the twentieth century, including among others, Diane Arbus, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, William Eggleston and Walker Evans, Andreas Gursky and Thomas Ruff.

This was an extremely large show extending across two halves of the fourth floor of Tate Modern. In designing the installation we thought of the visitor as a tourist in a strange city. In order to orientate visitors we made the boundaries of the building evident and created one main gallery space in the centre of each wing, which was significantly larger than its surrounding galleries.

In the concourse we interspersed seating and vitrines which contained original books and catalogues on the work of the exhibiting photographers. We worked with the graphic designer Melanie Mues adorning the walls with a forest of directions under which were written the names of exhibiting artists. In this treatment of the concourse we achieved a most vivid exposition of its possibilities as a space for arrival that we had so far not seen.

Exhibition dates: June to Sept 2003
Client: Tate Modern, Bankside, London
Photographs: David Grandorge