David Bailey

For other people of the same name, see David Bailey (disambiguation).
David Bailey

Bailey in 2012
Born David Royston Bailey
(1938-01-02) 2 January 1938
Leytonstone, London, England
Nationality British
Occupation Photographer
Years active 1959–present
Spouse(s) Rosemary Bramble (1960–64; divorced)
Catherine Deneuve (1965–72; divorced)
Marie Helvin (1975–82; divorced)
Catherine Dyer (1986–present)
Children 3
Website http://www.visualartists.co/artist/davidbailey

David Royston Bailey, CBE (born 2 January 1938) is an English fashion and portrait photographer.[1][2]

Early life

David Bailey was born in Leytonstone East London,[3] to Herbert Bailey, a tailor's cutter, and his wife, Sharon, a machinist. From the age of three he lived in East Ham.[4]

Bailey developed a love of natural history, and this led him into photography. Suffering from undiagnosed dyslexia, he experienced problems at school. He attended a private school, Clark's College in Ilford, where he says they taught him less than the more basic council school. As well as dyslexia he also has the motor skill disorder dyspraxia (developmental coordination disorder).

In one school year, he claims he only attended 33 times.[4] He left school on his fifteenth birthday, to become a copy boy at the Fleet Street offices of the Yorkshire Post. He raced through a series of dead end jobs, before his call up for National Service in 1956, serving with the Royal Air Force in Singapore in 1957. The appropriation of his trumpet forced him to consider other creative outlets, and he bought a Rolleiflex camera.

He was demobbed in August 1958, and determined to pursue a career in photography, he bought a Canon rangefinder camera. Unable to obtain a place at the London College of Printing because of his school record, he became a second assistant to David Ollins, in Charlotte Mews. He earned £3 10s (£3.50) a week, and acted as studio dogsbody. He was delighted to be called to an interview with photographer John French.

Professional career

One of Bailey's images of London gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray

In 1959, Bailey became a photographic assistant at the John French studio, and in May 1960, he was a photographer for John Cole's Studio Five, before being contracted as a fashion photographer for British Vogue magazine later that year.[5] He also undertook a large amount of freelance work.[6]

Along with Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, Bailey captured and helped create the 'Swinging London' of the 1960s: a culture of fashion and celebrity chic. The three photographers socialised with actors, musicians and royalty, and found themselves elevated to celebrity status. Together, they were the first real celebrity photographers, named by Norman Parkinson "the Black Trinity".[7]

The film Blowup (1966), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, depicts the life of a London fashion photographer (played by David Hemmings) whose character was inspired by Bailey.[8] The "Swinging London" scene was aptly reflected in his Box of Pin-Ups (1964): a box of poster-prints of 1960s celebrities including Terence Stamp, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Jean Shrimpton, PJ Proby, Cecil Beaton, Rudolf Nureyev, Andy Warhol and notorious East End gangsters, the Kray twins. The Box was an unusual and unique commercial release. It reflected the changing status of the photographer that one could sell a collection of prints in this way. (The strong objection to the presence of the Krays on the part of a fellow photographer, Lord Snowdon, was the major reason no American edition of the "Box" ever appeared and that a second British edition was not issued.) The record sale for a copy of 'Box of Pin-Ups' is reported as "north of £20,000".[9]

Bailey's ascent at Vogue was meteoric. Within months he was shooting covers and, at the height of his productivity, he shot 800 pages of Vogue editorial in one year.[10] Penelope Tree, a former girlfriend, described him as "the king lion on the Savannah: incredibly attractive, with a dangerous vibe. He was the electricity, the brightest, most powerful, most talented, most energetic force at the magazine".[10]

American Vogue's creative director Grace Coddington, then a model herself, said "It was the Sixties, it was a raving time, and Bailey was unbelievably good-looking. He was everything that you wanted him to be – like the Beatles but accessible – and when he went on the market everyone went in. We were all killing ourselves to be his model, although he hooked up with Jean Shrimpton pretty quickly".[10]

Of model Jean Shrimpton, Bailey said:

She was magic and the camera loved her too. In a way she was the cheapest model in the world – you only needed to shoot half a roll of film and then you had it. She had the knack of having her hand in the right place, she knew where the light was, she was just a natural.[6]

Since 1966, Bailey has also directed several television commercials and documentaries. From 1968 to 1971 he directed and produced TV documentaries titled Beaton, Warhol and Visconti. As well as fashion photography, Bailey photographed album sleeve art for musicians including The Rolling Stones and Marianne Faithfull. One of Bailey's most famous works depicts the Rolling Stones including Brian Jones, who drowned in 1969 while under the influence of drink and drugs. He is seen standing slightly apart from the rest of the group.[6]

Bailey was hired in 1970 by Island Records' Chris Blackwell to shoot publicity photos of Cat Stevens for his upcoming album Tea for the Tillerman. Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) maintains that he disliked having his photo on the cover of his albums, as had previously been the case, although he allowed Bailey's photographs to be placed on the inner sleeve of the album.[11]

In 1972, rock musician Alice Cooper was photographed by Bailey for Vogue magazine, almost naked apart from a snake. Cooper used Bailey the following year to shoot for the group's chart topping 'Billion Dollar Babies' album. The shoot included a baby wearing shocking eye makeup and, supposedly, one billion dollars in cash requiring the shoot to be under armed guard. In 1976, Bailey published Ritz Newspaper together with David Litchfield. In 1985, Bailey was photographing stars at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium. As he recalled later: "The atmosphere on the day was great. At one point I got a tap on my shoulder and spun round. Suddenly there was a big tongue down my throat! It was Freddie Mercury."[12]

In 1992, Bailey directed the BBC drama Who Dealt? starring Juliet Stevenson, story by Ring Lardner. In 1995 he directed and wrote the South Bank Film The Lady is a Tramp featuring his wife Catherine Bailey. In 1998 he directed a documentary with Ginger Television Production, Models Close Up, commissioned by Channel 4 Television.[13]

In 2012, the BBC made a film of the story of his 1962 New York photoshoot with Jean Shrimpton, entitled We'll Take Manhattan.[14]

In October 2013 Bailey took part in Art Wars at the Saatchi Gallery curated by Ben Moore. The artist was issued with a stormtrooper helmet, which he transformed into a work of art. Proceeds went to the Missing Tom Fund set up by Ben Moore to find his brother Tom who has been missing for over ten years. The work was also shown on the Regents Park platform as part of Art Below Regents Park.

Fashion

Bailey began working with prestigious fashion brand Jaeger in the late 1950s when Jean Muir landed the role of designer. After working alongside other fashion photographers such as the late Norman Parkinson, Bailey was officially commissioned by Vogue in 1962.[15]

His first shoot in New York was of young model Jean Shrimpton, who wore a range of Jaeger and Susan Small clothing, including a camel suit with a green blouse and a suede coat worn with kitten heels. The shoot was titled 'Young Idea Goes West'.

After 53 years Bailey returned to Jaeger to shoot their AW15 campaign.[16] The campaign kept in line with Jaeger's rich heritage, as menswear subject; James Penfold modelled tailored tweed blazers and the iconic camel coat. Also on the shoot was model, philanthropist and film director Elisa Sednaoui.

Bailey in 2011

Awards

Painting and sculpture

Bailey paints and sculpts. Some of his sculptures were shown in London in 2010,[21] and paintings and mixed media works were shown in October 2011.[22]

In Popular Culture

There are a number of references to Bailey, especially in questions on quiz shows, but also in the episode of The Professionals (TV series), entitled Involvement, one of the CI5 men is snapping away with a camera, causing his friend to enquire whether he thought he was David Bailey.

Personal life

Bailey has been married four times: in 1960 to Rosemary Bramble; in 1965 to the actress Catherine Deneuve (divorced 1972); in 1975 to American fashion model and writer Marie Helvin; and in 1986 to the model Catherine Dyer (born 20 July 1961), to whom he remains married. He is a long-time vegetarian and refrains from drinking alcohol. An art-lover with a long-held passion for the works of Picasso, his company address is in London [23] and he has a home on Dartmoor, near Plymouth.[24] Bailey has three children.

He was named one of GQ's 50 best dressed British men in 2015.[25]

Books

Exhibitions

External video
Susie Bubble visits Bailey's Stardust on YouTube, TheArtFundUK

References

  1. ↑ Heaf, Jonathan (20 January 2012). "David Bailey photography interview - GQ.COM (UK)". gq-magazine.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  2. ↑ "BBC Four - David Bailey: Four Beats to the Bar and No Cheating". bbc.co.uk. 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  3. ↑ The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 15 July 2003. p. 96. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  4. 1 2 "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of David Bailey, photographer", The Independent.
  5. ↑ Levy, Shawn. Ready, Steady, Go!: The Smashing Rise and Giddy Fall of Swinging London. New York: Broadway. ISBN 978-0-7679-0588-6.
  6. 1 2 3 "David Bailey: Godfather of Cool", BBC.
  7. ↑ Pittman, Joanna (20 August 2009). "David Bailey:still snapping away at 71". The Times (London). Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  8. ↑ PDN Legends Online: David Bailey; retrieved 15 November 2013.
  9. ↑ Petkanas, Christopher (24 January 2011). "Photographer Who Broke Molds". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  10. 1 2 3 Ellison, Jo. "Rogue's Gallery". British Vogue.
  11. ↑ Islam, Yusuf; Alun Davies (1970). "A conversation with Yusuf Islam & Alun Davies". Interview (upon the anniversary of Island Records) of Stevens and Davies. UK: YouTube. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  12. ↑ Wilkinson, Carl (17 October 2004). "Live aid in their own words". The Observer (London). Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  13. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/11/02/london.biog/
  14. ↑ Lampert, Nicole (21 January 2012). "We'll Take Manhattan: Jean Shrimpton and David Bailey's love affair started the Swinging Sixties | Mail Online". London: dailymail.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  15. ↑ "Not used". Vogue UK. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  16. ↑ "The Campaign: AW15". Jaeger. Jaeger.
  17. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 56237. pp. 7–8. 16 June 2001. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  18. ↑ Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Award
  19. ↑ "Infinity Awards". International Center of Photography. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  20. ↑ Durón, Maximilíano (3 February 2016). "ICP Gives 2016 Infinity Awards to Walid Raad, Zanele Muholi, David Bailey, More". ARTnews. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  21. ↑ Stuart, Jeffries (26 August 2010). "Out of his skulls". The Guardian.
  22. ↑ David Bailey: "Hitler killed the Duck", ArtLyst.com; retrieved 12 September 2011.
  23. ↑ "UK Company Search". Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  24. ↑ "UK Electoral Roll". Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  25. ↑ "50 Best Dressed Men in Britain 2015". GQ. 5 January 2015.
  26. ↑ Exhibition notice, Create London. Accessed 28 July 2012.
  27. ↑ "East End Faces, William Morris Gallery". The Daily Telegraph (London). 21 February 2013.
  28. ↑ Brown, Mark (5 September 2013). "Unseen pictures to feature in David Bailey show at National Portrait Gallery". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 January 2014.

External links

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