BAILEY THE MUSIC MAN: SIXTY YEARS OF SOUND AND VISION
Bailey: Vision and Sound showcases the faces behind the music that defined the past sixty years
He’s one of the world’s most famous photographers; his subjects have included everyone from the Kray twins to Princess Diana and the late Queen Elizabeth II. Not to mention scores of ‘rock royalty’ too. Not bad for an East-End boy who was stuck in the ‘silly class’ due to his undiagnosed dyslexia, and left school at 15. And now, a new exhibition showcasing David Bailey’s rock ‘n’ roll portraits over six decades, from the 1960s through to the 21st century, is to be unveiled in London’s glamorous Park Lane. Traversing a mix of musical genres from Rock to Reggae and Hip-Hop, Bailey: Vision and Sound will feature icons such as Bob Marley, Grace Jones, Mick Jagger, Bowie and the Beatles, along with previously unseen record-cover out-takes of albums by Queen, Alice Cooper, and the Rolling Stones, including sleeves for Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Goats Head Soup.
Among the most eye-catching exhibits are an early portrait of a fresh-faced, then-unknown Mick Jagger in Paris, before the Stones had even cut an LP. Remarked Diana Vreeland, then editor of American Vogue: “I don’t care who he is, it’s a fantastic picture. I want to publish it.” The rest, as they say… And Jagger would go on to become a close friend of Bailey’s over that tumultuous decade which did so much to make Bailey’s name.
He’s perhaps best known for his revolutionary, zeitgeist-capturing portraits, of the good, the bad, and the downright ugly, from the Swinging Sixties: his 1965 Box of Pin-Ups, in particular. “Things happened really fast from 1960,” Bailey says. “I always thought the Sixties were over by 1965 when Swinging London had become just a fashionable idea.” As for that other ‘Cool Britannia’ era, Liam and Noel Gallagher also make an appearance in all their swaggering glory: “I worked quickly as I wanted them out of the studio,” recalls Bailey. “I thought they might kill each other.”
Bailey has a particular passion for Jazz, as evince by his portraits of Miles Davis, Duke Ellington in rehearsal, and an up till now unseen portrait of trumpeter and composer Dizzie Gillespie. “It’s not the camera that takes the picture; it’s the person,” Bailey once observed, and he’s justifiably celebrated for putting his subjects at their ease. Among his sitters, incredible portraits of John Lydon, Bob Marley and John Lennon and Paul McCartney (showing the pair gazing in different directions) are testament to his skill; a talent that notably extends to the moving image: Bailey has directed hundreds of TV commercials and won a Lion d’Or at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival for his Greenpeace PSA, Meltdown.
Bailey: Vision and Sound, in collaboration with Dellasposa Gallery, will open at 45 Park Lane, London W1K 1PN on Thursday 22 September, and runs through to January 2023.