Elton John donates 7,000 photos to V&A, earns gallery naming

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London has renamed one of its four new Photography Centre galleries 'The Sir Elton John and David Furnish Gallery' after the musician and his husband donated 7,000 photographs. The donation supports the museum's expansion, which includes a new Photography Centre designed by David Kohn Architects, opened in October, and a further extension planned for 2022. The partnership also involves a future co-curated temporary exhibition. Elton John's collection, started in 1991, includes works by Man Ray, André Kertész, Dorothea Lange, Edward Steichen, Cindy Sherman, Alec Soth, and Alex Prager. V&A director Tristram Hunt expressed gratitude, noting the synergy between the museum's 800,000-photo collection and John's private collection, one of the world's largest. The V&A, founded in 1852, has previously received donations from rock stars, including Paul McCartney's gift of 60 photographs by Linda McCartney in 2018.