The iconic, brutalist architecture of the National Theatre building on London’s South Bank has been documented by photographer Amelia Lancaster for over 20 years. These images can now be seen inside the very building they depict at a free exhibition
Abstractions: Studies of the National Theatre, is currently running in the Wolfson Gallery at the National Theatre.
Lancaster has been taking photos of the South Bank area and its buildings since 2003, and says she was fascinated by “the simplicity of the trio of concrete, sunlight and shadows” at the National Theatre – how light and shadow would dramatically alter the facade of the Denys Lasdun-designed building.
The images, shot mostly on 35mm film, interrogate geometries that are revealed as the light moves around the different angled planes of concrete.
They are presented in three subsets – beautiful brutalism, reduction, and negatives – and each subset uses colour and contrast to take the already-angular National Theatre and create new abstract compositions.
Abstractions: Studies from the National Theatre is Lancaster’s debut solo exhibition. It is free to visit in the Wolfson Gallery at the National Theatre, located between Lasdun Restaurant and the Olivier Stalls level. The exhibition will run until autumn 2024.
Wolfson Gallery, National Theatre, SE1 until Autumn 2024. Admission: Free.
