http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/sep/27/sixties-photographer-brian-duffy-show
Exhibition could restore photographer to status of fellow 'terrible
trio' members David Bailey and Terence Donovan
Mark Brown
27 September 2009
He was one of the "terrible trio" three photographers who helped
capture and shape the vibrancy of London in the swinging sixties.
But the name Brian Duffy is not as well known today as it should be
not helped by the man himself, who burned many of his negatives in
1979. Now though, Duffy is set to be recognised with the first ever
public exhibition of his photographs including little seen portraits
of stars such as Michael Caine, Sidney Poitier, Jean Shrimpton and Nina Simone.
Duffy and his fellow East Enders David Bailey and Terence Donovan
were a breath of fresh air, bringing glamour along with new ideas
and enormous energy to photography. They helped shape a mostly
mythical image of London in the 1960s where fun and sex could be
had, where dreams could come true. The society photographer Norman
Parkinson called them "the Black Trinity".
"We were great mates yes, but we were also great competitors," said
Duffy. They were also aggressively ambitious. "People of my
generation were not prepared to wear it. We were fairly chippy and if
you wanted it you could have it. We would not be told what to do."
Duffy got a job with Vogue magazine in 1957 and became one of the
leading fashion, glamour and celebrity snappers and because he had
four children recalled a time when it was just "work, work, work".
The exhibition to be staged in London includes many unpublished
images. For example a photograph of Sammy Davis Jr shows the
entertainer kissing his new wife, the Swedish actor May Britt. It was
a time when interracial marriage was still illegal in some US states
and Davis had even been removed from the bill for John F Kennedy's
inauguration party because of the controversy.
Vogue saw the picture but never published it. "It was a
non-discussable thing," said Duffy. "Today it would be on the cover."
Recalling a photoshoot with John Lennon, who had just returned from
having his teeth done in the US, Duffy said: "He was just like any
nice, normal, intelligent person."
Another image in the show is one of Caine, taken before he became
really famous, but even then the actor was conscious of image importance.
"He always carried in those days mascara," said Duffy. "But then
that's what actors do. He had eye lashes that were totally blonde."
Duffy took photos of most of the period's figures including the Krays
and there is a striking picture in the show of Reggie sparring with
his grandfather, a former flyweight boxer and street fighter.
After a successful photographic career, Duffy went on to set up a
film production company with the novelist Len Deighton, producing Oh!
What a Lovely War. In the 70s Duffy shot and designed one of the most
memorable album covers of the decade David Bowie's Aladdin Sane.
A BBC documentary about Duffy is also being made and this week he
went back to the site where, fed up, he burned his negatives in 1979.
"I could see the house from which a woman stuck her neck out of the
window and started screaming at me," said Duffy, who was eventually
forced to stop by an official from Camden council.
"The thing with negatives is they don't burn as fast as you think
they will. I'd thrown them into this fire bin and I just had to stoke
them and I was pouring white spirit in to try and keep it going. It
was, to be honest, making pretty stinking black smoke."
He recognises now that it was a breakdown but does not have regrets
"life is life and things happen".
It was more than two years ago that Duffy's wife suggested he might
like to do something with all the shoeboxes full of un-burned
negatives cluttering up their home and his son Chris began going
through them. "He started looking through them and said, 'Wow, there
are some really interesting things here, didn't realise you did this or that.'
"It was Chris really who re-enthused me to start looking at them."
Duffy, now 76, said it had not really occurred to him that people
would be interested. "What's happened over the last 20 years is that
photography, which was a trade, has now become art." He said he had
always considered himself a craftsman, albeit a very good one.
Archiving of the surviving images has gone on over the last two years
and a new exhibition, with 60 photographs, opens at the Chris Beetles
gallery in central London on October 14. It will also include more
personal and unseen examples of Duffy's abstract work.
.
0 comments:
Post a Comment