Kevin Cummins: Assassinated Beauty

An iconic selection of photographs of the most iconoclastic British band of the late twentieth century, Manic Street Preachers. In the early nineties, a group of disaffected and fiercely political young men from the Welsh valleys exploded onto a British music scene still in thrall to rave and acid house. With their early singles Motown Junk, You Love Us and Stay Beautiful the Manics reminded us at a moment of great hedonistic indulgence that pop is an instrument to provoke and destabilise. It was the legendary photographer Kevin Cummins who captured James, Sean, Richie and Nicky in their most uncompromising, glam-fixated early years. (Title) is a unique record of a band on a mission to reclaim rock n roll through literature, image and thrilling guitar pop. Working at the NME and already famous for his association with the classic images of Joy Division, The Smiths and Stone Roses, Cummins was the ideal photographer to capture the essence of a band who understood and manipulated androgynous and decadent imagery. These photographs document the period just before the release of Generation Terrorists (1992) up to Holy Bible (1995) and the subsequent disappearance of guitarist and lyricist, Richie Edwards. A revealing mix of studio shots and never-seen-before behind the scenes photographs of a band at arguably their creative zenith, (title) is the ultimate portrait of one of the last great British rock n roll bands.