Inspiration of the photograph

There were once fears that photography would make painting redundant. Yet, even in its infancy, artists found ways to respond to the new medium. The Impressionists would 'crop' their images, as if presenting spontaneous snapshots of modern life: street scenes, theatres and brothels provided intimate glimpses into lives beyond bourgeois society.

But in the latter half of the 20th century, the photograph provided more direct inspiration. It became the subject of the work itself: artists such as Andy Warhol and Gerhard Richter, both of whom kick off this exhibition, reproduced photographic images in ways which provoked questions beyond the merely aesthetic. Warhol's serial image of a car crash is repeated like a photobooth print, so, paradoxically, the horror is intensified by the banality of its representation.

And Richter's blurry painting of Jackie Kennedy, in the shocked, horrified moments immediately following her husband's shooting, distances us from the event, instead enticing us with the beauty of its painterly surfaces.

Later, we see Peter Doig's melancholic scenes of children playing in snow, and Marlene Dumas's images of prostitutes. But in between, there are few images as arresting as those earlier portrayals exploring the macabre glamour of death.

Until Dec 30, Hayward Gallery, South Bank SE1, daily 10am to 6pm (Tue and Wed to 8pm, Fri to 9pm). £8, free to £7 concs. Tel: 0870 380 0400. www.southbankcentre.co.uk Tube: Waterloo/Embankment

The Painting Of Modern Life
The Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
The South Bank Centre,Belvedere Road, SE1 8XX