Speedster, photographer, arts patron, and British aristocrat Charles March, aka the Duke of Richmond, wears many hats. On Tuesday, November 4, March opened his new show of minimalist, abstract photos at London’s Hamiltons Gallery. The exhibition, titled “Sandscript,” runs through January 16 and, he said, “recalls the fluid brushwork of Chinese ink painting.”
A vintage automobile enthusiast, March is the founder of the Goodwood Festival of Speed and Goodwood Revival and set up the non-profit Goodwood Art Foundation in Sussex earlier this year. His photography career spans five decades, and his first job after leaving school at 16 years old was as an apprentice to movie director Stanley Kubrick on the set of Barry Lyndon (1975). March went on travel to East Africa, where he worked as a documentary photographer, contributing photo stories to magazines. He then established himself in the 1980s as a still-life and advertising photographer under the name Charles Settrington.
“Abstract photography is a paradox and that, for me, is compelling,” he told ARTnews. “The expectation of photography is that it represents a reality, abstract art is a disconnection of that. The use of photography in this context makes the visual impression of these new abstract images in ‘Sandscript’ even more intense; increasing the interest and excitement, knowing that these lines and shapes have been drawn by nature—they are real but unrecognizable. Just as I have to seek-out the subject matter, deeply hidden amongst chaotic undergrowth or strewn randomly across an enormous beach, so I hope that the abstract nature of the pictures will inspire the viewer to search for more, to look harder for themselves and, in turn, deliver strong feelings about time and space.”
March is donating proceeds from the exhibition to the King’s Trust International’s 10th anniversary campaign, Generation Potential, founded by fellow blue blood King Charles It strives to address “the global youth unemployment crisis by providing young people with skills, confidence, and opportunities to learn, earn, and thrive.”
His work has been shown at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg and the Moscow Photography Biennale. He’s also shown at Venus Over Manhattan in New York and Rome’s Galleria del Cembalo.
The duke said Kubrick left a lasting impression on him. “Without doubt, the single thing that stands out most for me was his attitude of only ever doing things in the best possible way and there never being any compromise,” he told ARTnews. “It was amazing to be so young, working around people who were completely committed and totally focussed on what they were doing, with only one thing in mind and that was to do it to the very highest possible standard and to the very best of their ability. Nothing was allowed to get in the way of that.”
March set up the Goodwood Art Foundation in Sussex with the aim of “improving the mental and physical wellbeing and creativeness of people from all backgrounds,” he said, “through their engagement with contemporary art and connectedness to nature. We want to show contemporary art at the very highest level, making it available to people who are going to get the most out of it.”
