Sunday 6 June 2010

1960's photographer icon Brian Duffy is Dead....





Model Pauline Stone below and Duffy had a special professional chemistry.





Brian Duffy an icon of the 60s died today after a long struggle with lung cancer.......
Brian Duffy who went to St Martins to study fashion design and ended up on Vogues books as a fashion photographer within a year of graduating was part of 1960s swinging London's talented brat pack of creatives, actors, photographers, models and musicians. Terence Donovan ( a friend of his) Terrence stamp, Mick Jagger and the Stones, Andrew Oldman ( The Stones flamboyant manager), Marian
Faithful, Jean Shrimpton, David Bailey, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and The Beatles, model Patti Boyd, David Putman, Pauline Stone, Twiggy, Penelope Tree, Brian Epstein, my list could go on, helped shape a remarkable and hugely influential UK led social and cultural revolution that continues today.
The people Duffy knew and mixed with he tended to photograph back then. His bio is not quite as impressive as adorable David Bailey however (I used to baby sit in Blackheath for Bailey's PA) due to his sometimes rather unpredictable character traits, ie he could be stroppy ! however his incredible talent and flair won through and he continued to create ground breaking work well into the 1980s, for example he created three David Bowie album covers using pioneering special photography effects, well before the days of Photoshop and the amazing digital technology we have at our finger tips today.
He was the creative genius behind the Benson and Hedges campaign in the 70s and was also commissioned to do the prestigious Pirelli calendar with British pop artist Allen Jones and air brushing specialist Phillip Castle in 1973.
Fashion was what he made his name in though. Duffy was one of the three in 'The Black Trinity' as Norman Parkinson like to call them with Bailey and Donovan. All East End boys made good they made wonderfully interesting subjects for journalists recording the unfolding of the emerging social revolution. Duffy and his group represented change.
Never boring Duffy decided one afternoon in the back garden of his studio in Swiss Cottage, Primrose Hill to burn all his fashion negatives, absolutely devastating - however enough were saved and remain for his work to be appreciated.