Born in Germany, but based in London for the last ten years, 2001 Turner prize-winning photographer Wolfgang Tillmans, is just able to qualify as “British” and therefore be eligible to be shown at Tate Britain. This will be his first solo exhibition in a UK museum, with some work made specifically, including a new film (6 June-14 September). It is a huge exhibition, exhaustive in scale. Accompanying it is a catalogue compiled by Tillmans, and published by Tate, which aims to include every work he has every shot, about 2,300 images. Apparently, he has kept detailed archives of all his photos, from teenage snapshots to the sophisticated high-value still-lifes of recent years. He is still most known for the late 1980s fashion photographs of streetwise models in pseudo-documentary style, which offer a sneaky sense of intimacy with some of London’s coolest people. Tillmans went on from fashion to landscapes and still-lifes, keeping the same eye for style and beauty and capturing what he saw with apparent spontaneity. Many of the works will be exhibited in trademark style: unframed and pinned to the wall in random order like posters in a teenage bedroom. Other rooms will see a more structured, classical hang, emphasising the considered side of Tillman’s aesthetic.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'What's on? Wolfgang Tillmans'