David Bailey’s name is synonymous
with fashion photography. He came to fame in the “Swinging Sixties” when, as a
young, daring and charismatic portrait photographer he produced some of the
most iconic images of that decade. By the end of that era he had become the
best known photographer in Britain and some of the images on display, such as
those of the Kray brothers, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones as well as the
model Jean Shrimpton, have been used hundreds, if not thousands of times in
publications around the world. This major retrospective of his work, occupying
most of the ground floor of the National Portrait Gallery, was curated by
76-year-old Bailey himself and is very much a personal statement. It covers all
periods of his long and creative career. In addition to the 300 or so
photographs there are various Bailey memorabilia, including an old school
report where a teacher comments sagely that “Bailey is a boy of considerable
intelligence who does not make enough of his brains …….. I feel quite certain
that given a calling in which he is interested, he will make a good account of
himself.” That “calling” was photography.
Huh, call yourself a David
Bailey, do you?” How many times have these or similar words been uttered over
the years before, during or after the latest family portrait has been taken?
For decades, Bailey’s name has been synonymous with super-model fashion
photography, portrait photography of the famous and a jet-setting, high
profile, hell-raising lifestyle, which included four marriages. For many years
an irascible, at times controversial figure, more recently Bailey has slipped
somewhat from the public eye, adopting a lower profile, although he is still
very active professionally. For this reason, now is an excellent time to review
his output and discover how and why he made such an enormous impact as a
portrait and fashion photographer.
Bailey’s photographs from the
sixties reveal that he had very quickly developed a distinctive style for his
portraits. Shot in monochrome and normally using a simple, white, studio
background, his portraits succeed in bringing out character in his sitters,
whilst using minimal or no props. He uses static poses, but with implied
action, bringing out fine detail with what I presume was, at the time, state of
the art equipment. Often his photos are deliberately high key or low key,
depending on the atmosphere that he wished to create at the time. Examples of
this work include a contact sheet from 1965 of the Kray twins and a seductive,
high key 1966 portrait of the model Grace Coddington (see below).
Grace Coddington by
David Bailey
Bailey’s portraits feature a
“Who’s Who” of fashion icons (models Jean Shrimpton and Kate Moss get special
attention, whilst Anna Piaggi and Vivienne Westwood also feature) and famous
names (The Queen, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Salvador Dali, Man Ray,
Rudolf Nureyev, Andy Warhol etc. etc.) from the middle years of the 20th
century. Apparently he was not one for putting famous sitters at ease, but he
always seemed to build up the rapport that enabled him to capture his chosen
aspects of their public personas on film.
Whilst Bailey could be rude and
tactless there was a tender side to him, which is brought out in the room
dedicated to his fourth (“and final”) wife and mother of his three children,
Catherine. In addition to the model poses we see her pregnant, giving birth,
with her children and with Bailey himself: sensitive portraits which speak
highly of her huge importance to him.
Other aspects of Bailey’s career
include those taken on his travels around the world, such as the visit to East
Africa in 1985 which played an important role in the “Band Aid” venture,
publicising the devastating famine in that area and raising huge amounts of
money for famine relief.
Bailey grew up in London’s East
End and has never forgotten his working class roots. A section of the
exhibition is dedicated to photographs (some in colour) taken close to his
birthplace. There are also a number of self-portraits in the exhibition and it
is fascinating to note how his appearance changed to reflect the times (short
hair, long hair then back to short hair again) and to appreciate how his good
looks and personality would have worked in his favour (“Being handsome wasn’t a
burden. It worked for me.” – Bailey) as he was forging a career in a business
that had been, to that point, dominated by well-educated upper class types with
money, such as Cecil Beaton (whose photograph by Bailey appears here).
Not content with his photography,
Bailey has also dabbled with sculpture and some of his works are on display.
More recent photographs include those of fellow “enfant terrible” photographers
from the “swinging 60s” Brian Duffy and Terry O’Neill. Duffy’s portrait
(captured in 2010) is, to my mind, one of the most impressive on show, as well
as illustrating how timeless, innovative and successful Bailey’s portraiture
style has been.
By photographing iconic people David Bailey quickly became
an icon in his own right. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the exhibition and,
although I am no portrait photographer, I appreciated the quality and style of
his work. I was fascinated to note that, at least in his early years, Bailey
was, like me, a bit of a birdwatcher. I wonder how he could have applied his
skills to bird portraits and, more pertinently, whether a little of his
photographic style could rub off on me.
Learning Points,
Future Work and References:
Bailey’s use of high key (see
portrait of Grace Coddington, above) and low key in his portraiture is very
effective, creating a mood that emphasises the personalities of his subjects.
The effectiveness of these modes of presentation depends on making the right
choice of subject matter for their application and Bailey is a master of this.
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