Imre Kinszki Spittle, early 1930s
In 1983, Paul and Toni Arden moved in to their first apartment in Cavendish Square, London. Faced with the empty walls, Paul suggested they frame some of the photographs he had stored in a trunk. Seeing his photographs presented on the wall ignited in Paul a lifelong passion for collecting photography.
Paul was a visionary and polemic figure in British image-making and advertising. Working as Executive Creative Director at Saatchi and Saatchi for over two decades, "Arden was the ringmaster behind the whole creative circus that saw British Airways become 'The World’s Favourite Airline', The Independent become the new intelligentsia’s favorite newspaper, Margaret Thatcher the nation’s favorite leader and Silk Cut their favourite fag." (Source: Dave Trott 'Tribute: A legend who was never dull, ordinary or safe', The Independent, 6 April 2008)
The world is what you think of it. So think of it differently and your life will change.
—Paul Arden
John Claridge Paul & Book, 1989 Photo © John Claridge
The first art director in the UK to commission photographers such as Richard Avedon and Sebastião Salgado to create seminal campaigns for his clients, Paul demanded dedication and quality, and he got it. This demand is mirrored in his approach to collecting photography, which brought together some of the greatest names in the history of 20th-century photography.
Robert Mapplethorpe Thomas, 1987
Adam Fuss Untitled, 2012
Irving Penn’s Bedside Lamp, an oversized pigment print, is a stunning still life of one of Penn’s most prized possessions. Thomas by Robert Mapplethorpe and In the Box by Ruth Bernhard highlight the lines and sculptural form found in the human body. Works by Imre Kinszki, Frederick Sommer and Adam Fuss are examples of photographers taking the ordinary and transforming it into the extraordinary. Charles Jones’s Potato sets for planting evokes a modernist sensibility ahead of the Pictorialist style that dominated photography at the turn of the century.
Throughout his 30 years of collecting, Paul was drawn to photographers who challenged the viewer, turned the mundane into the surreal, and pushed the boundaries of the medium. The collection here showcases his nuanced and unique understanding and appreciation of the photographic image.