David Bailey

David Royston Bailey was born at Whipps Cross University Hospital, Leytonstone,{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rySr84jox_AC&pg=PA96 |title=The Houghton Mifflin Dictionary of Biography |date=15 July 2003 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=9780618252107 |page=96 |access-date=10 April 2012}} to Herbert Bailey, a tailor's cutter, and his wife Gladys, a machinist. From the age of three he lived in East Ham."[http://education.independent.co.uk/careers_advice/article347059.ece Passed/Failed: An education in the life of David Bailey, photographer] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926021441/http://education.independent.co.uk/careers_advice/article347059.ece |date=26 September 2006 }}", The Independent.

Bailey developed a love of natural history, and this led him into photography. As he had undiagnosed dyslexia,{{Cite web |date=2016-01-02 |title=David Bailey was a scowling, socially mobile rude boy |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/david-bailey-introduced-us-to-the-concept-of-the-portrait-photographer-as-style-arbiter-and-sex-god-a6788881.html |access-date=2020-04-15 |website=The Independent |language=en}} 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. 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.{{Citation needed|date=June 2020}}

Image:krays.jpg]]

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.{{Cite book |last=Levy |first=Shawn |title=Ready, Steady, Go!: The Smashing Rise and Giddy Fall of Swinging London |publisher=Doubleday |year=2002 |isbn=0-385-49857-8 |location=New York |pages=16–18 |author-link=Shawn Levy (writer)}} He also undertook a large amount of freelance work."[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/1390510.stm David Bailey: Godfather of Cool]", BBC.

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".{{Cite news |last=Pittman |first=Joanna |date=20 August 2009 |title=David Bailey:still snapping away at 71 |work=The Times |location=London |url=http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/fashion/article6802180.ece |access-date=20 August 2009}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

In 1966 Bailey directed the short film G.G. Passion.

The film Blowup (1966), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, depicts the life of a London fashion photographer who is played by David Hemmings, whose character was inspired by Bailey.[http://pdngallery.com/legends/bailey/intro.shtml PDN Legends Online: David Bailey] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922201517/http://pdngallery.com/legends/bailey/intro.shtml |date=22 September 2013 }}. Retrieved 15 November 2013. 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, P. J. Proby, Cecil Beaton, Rudolf Nureyev and 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. Strong objection to the presence of the Krays by fellow photographer, Lord Snowdon, was the major reason no American edition of the "Box" was released, 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".{{Cite news |last=Petkanas |first=Christopher |date=24 January 2011 |title=Photographer Who Broke Molds |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/arts/25iht-photog25.html |access-date=24 January 2011}}

At Vogue Bailey was shooting covers within months, and, at the height of his productivity, he shot 800 pages of Vogue editorial in one year.{{Cite news |last=Ellison |first=Jo |date=July 2010 |title=Rogue's Gallery |work=British Vogue}} 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".

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".

Of model Jean Shrimpton, Bailey said: {{blockquote|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.}}

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, who is 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.{{Cite web |last1=Islam |first1=Yusuf |last2=Alun Davies |year=1970 |title=A conversation with Yusuf Islam & Alun Davies |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn53iV88SNo |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140925101941/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn53iV88SNo&app=desktop |archive-date=25 September 2014 |access-date=26 July 2015 |website=Interview (upon the anniversary of Island Records) of Stevens and Davies |via=YouTube |location=UK}} Bailey also photographed album sleeve art for musicians including The Rolling Stones and Marianne Faithfull.

Bailey directed and produced the TV documentaries Beaton (1971) on Cecil Beaton, Visconti (1972) on Luchino Visconti, and Warhol (1973) on Andy Warhol.{{Cite book |last=Harrison |first=Martin |url= |title=David Bailey, Locations: The 1970s archive |date=2003 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |others= |isbn=978-0-500-54273-6 |location=New York}}

In 1972, rock singer 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."{{Cite news |last=Wilkinson |first=Carl |date=17 October 2004 |title=Live aid in their own words |work=The Observer |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/oct/17/popandrock5 |access-date=3 April 2013}}

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.{{Cite web |date=3 November 2006 |title=Biography: David Bailey |url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/11/02/london.biog/ |access-date=1 September 2018 |publisher=CNN}}

In 2012, the BBC made a film of the story of his 1962 New York photoshoot with Jean Shrimpton, entitled We'll Take Manhattan, starring Aneurin Barnard as Bailey.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

In October 2013, Bailey took part in Art Wars at the Saatchi Gallery curated by Ben Moore.{{Cite news |last=Ash |first=Laurien |date=2 October 2013 |title=Damien Hirst and David Bailey don their Stormtrooper helmets for 'Art Wars' |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/10350188/Damien-Hirst-and-David-Bailey-don-their-Stormtrooper-helmets-for-Art-Wars.html |access-date=12 January 2017}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Info |url=http://www.artbelow.org.uk/artbelow/artists/benmoore |access-date=12 January 2017 |publisher=Art Below}}

In October 2020 Bailey's memoir Look Again in co-operation with author James Fox was published by Macmillan Books, a review on his life and work.{{Cite news |last=Sturges |first=Fiona |date=2020-10-29 |title=Look Again by David Bailey review – no reflection, no regret |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/29/look-again-by-david-bailey-review-no-reflection-no-regret |access-date=2020-11-01 |issn=0261-3077}}

Bailey began working with 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.{{Cite web |title=David Bailey |url=http://www.vogue.co.uk/person/david-bailey |access-date=9 December 2015 |website=Vogue UK}}

His first shoot in New York City 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.{{Cite web |title=The Campaign: AW15 |url=http://www.jaeger.co.uk/mens/jaeger-journal/aw15_the_campaign_mw_wk24.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007051631/http://www.jaeger.co.uk/mens/jaeger-journal/aw15_the_campaign_mw_wk24.html |archive-date=7 October 2015 |website=Jaeger |df=dmy-all}} As menswear subject; James Penfold modelled tailored tweed blazers and a camel coat. Also on the shoot was model, philanthropist and film director Elisa Sednaoui along with GQ magazine's most stylish male 2003, Martin Gardner.

File:David Bailey - Flickr - nick step (1).jpg

• 2001: Commander of the Order of the British Empire, as part of 2001 Queen's Birthday Honours.{{London Gazette|issue=56237|date=16 June 2001|pages=7–8 |supp=y }}
• 2005: Centenary Medal and Honorary Fellowship (HonFRPS), Royal Photographic Society.{{Cite web |title=Royal Photographic Society's Centenary Award |url=http://www.rps.org/annual-awards/Centenary-Medal |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201070248/http://www.rps.org/annual-awards/Centenary-Medal |archive-date=1 December 2012 |access-date=13 August 2012}}
• 2016: Lifetime Achievement award, Infinity Awards, International Center of Photography, New York.{{Cite web |date=3 February 2016 |title=Infinity Awards |url=http://www.icp.org/infinity-awards |access-date=3 February 2016 |publisher=International Center of Photography}}{{Cite web |last=Durón |first=Maximilíano |date=3 February 2016 |title=ICP Gives 2016 Infinity Awards to Walid Raad, Zanele Muholi, David Bailey, More |url=http://www.artnews.com/2016/02/03/icp-gives-2016-infinity-awards-to-walid-raad-zanele-muholi-david-bailey-more/ |access-date=3 February 2016 |website=ARTnews}}

Bailey paints and sculpts. Some of his sculptures were shown in London in 2010,{{Cite news |last=Stuart |first=Jeffries |date=26 August 2010 |title=Out of his skulls |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/aug/25/david-bailey}} and paintings and mixed media works were shown in October 2011.

In the 1970s Bailey lost some equipment in a robbery and replaced it with the new Olympus OM system

equipment which was substantially smaller and lighter than contemporary competitors' equipment. He then appeared in advertising promoting the Olympus OM-1 35 mm single lens reflex camera. He subsequently appeared in a series of UK TV commercials for the Olympus Trip camera.{{Cite web |date=12 July 2015 |title=1970s Olympus Trip 35 Commercials Starring British Photographer David Bailey |url=https://petapixel.com/2015/07/12/1970s-olympus-trip-35-commercials-starring-british-photographer-david-bailey/}}{{citation needed|date=September 2018}}

Bailey was married in 1960 to Rosemary Bramble. In 1965, he and actress Catherine Deneuve were married. They divorced in 1972. In 1975, Bailey married American fashion model and writer Marie Helvin. Following their divorce, he married model Catherine Dyer in 1986.

Bailey's company is in London. His wife and their photographer son, Fenton Fox Bailey, are directors.{{Cite web |title=UK Company Search |url=https://companycheck.co.uk/director/902871344/MR-DAVID-ROYSTON-BAILEY |access-date=20 October 2015}}{{Cite web |title=Fenton Fox BAILEY - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House) |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/tAyEA612mQhTEF6ip_Ke2mXdmKw/appointments |access-date=2020-11-01 |website=find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |language=en}} The family maintains a home on Dartmoor, near Plymouth.{{Cite web |title=UK Electoral Roll |url=http://www.searchelectoralroll.co.uk |access-date=20 October 2015}}

Bailey was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2018.{{Cite news |last=Otte |first=Jedidajah |date=11 September 2021 |title=Photographer David Bailey reveals he has vascular dementia |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/sep/11/photographer-david-bailey-reveals-he-has-vascular-dementia}}

{{Div col}}

• Box of Pin-Ups, 1964
• Goodbye Baby & Amen, 1969, 2017
• Warhol, 1974
• Beady Minces, 1974
• Papua New Guinea, 1975
• Mixed Moments, 1976
• Trouble and Strife, 1980
• Mrs. David Bailey, 1980
• Bailey NW1, 1982
• Black & White Memories, 1983
• Nudes 1981–1984, 1984
• Imagine, 1985
• If We Shadows, 1992
• The Lady is a Tramp, 1995
• Rock & Roll Heroes, 1997
• Archive One, 1999 (also titled The Birth of the Cool for USA)
• Chasing Rainbows, 2001
• Art of Violence, Kate Kray & David Bailey, 2003 (also titled Diamond Geezers)
• Bailey/Rankin Down Under, 2003
• Archive Two: Locations, 2003
• Bailey's Democracy, 2005
• Havana, 2006
• NY JS DB 62, 2007
• Pictures That Mark Can Do, 2007
• Is That So Kid, 2008
• David Bailey: 8 Minutes: Hirst & Bailey, 2009 With Damien Hirst
• EYE, 2009
• Flowers, Skulls, Contacts, 2010
• British Heroes in Afghanistan, 2010
• Bailey's East End (Steidl, 2014) 3 vols.Briefly reviewed in the 21 November 2014 issue of New Statesman, p.47.
• The David Bailey SUMO, 2019
• Look Again, 2020
• Eighties Bailey, 2024

{{Div col end}}

{{BLP sources section|date=July 2014}}

{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | video1 = {{YouTube|fcDq9spvy08|Susie Bubble visits Bailey's Stardust}}, TheArtFundUK

}}

• National Portrait Gallery 1971
• One Man Retrospective Victoria & Albert Museum 1983
• International Center of Photography (ICP) NY 1984
• Curator "Shots of Style" Victoria & Albert Museum 1985
• Pictures of Sudan for Band Aid at The Institute for Contemporary Arts (ICA) *1985
• Auction at Sotheby's for Live Aid Concert for Band Aid 1985
• Bailey Now! Royal Photographic Society in Bath 1989
• Numerous Exhibitions at Hamiltons Gallery, London. 1989 to now
• Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles 1990
• Camerawork Photogallerie, Berlin. 1997
• Carla Sozzani. Milan. 1997
• A Gallery for Fine Photography, New Orleans. 1998
• Touring exhibition "Birth of the Cool" 1957–1969 & contemporary work
• Barbican Art Gallery, London – 1999
• National Museum of Film, Photography & Television, Bradford. 1999–2000
• Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden. 2000
• City Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland 2000
• Modern Art Museum, The Dean Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh 2001
• Proud Gallery London Bailey /Rankin Down Under
• Gagosian Gallery. Joint with Damien Hirst "14 Stations of the Cross" 2004
• Gagosian Gallery. Artists by David Bailey. 2004
• Democracy. Faggionato Fine Arts 2005
• Havana. Faggionato Fine Arts 2006
• Pop Art Gagosian London 2007
• Galeria Hilario Galguera Mexico 2007
• National Portrait Gallery – Beatles to Bowie 2009
• Bonhams, London. Pure Sixties Pure Bailey 2010
• Pangolin London. Sculpture + 2010
• The Stockdale Effect, Paul Stolper Gallery, London 2010
• David Bailey's East End. Compressor House, London, 2012.[http://createlondon.org/events/david-baileys-east-end.html Exhibition notice] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731135731/http://createlondon.org/events/david-baileys-east-end.html |date=31 July 2012 }}, Create London. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
• David Bailey's East End Faces London February/May 2013{{Cite news |date=21 February 2013 |title=East End Faces, William Morris Gallery |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/9885836/David-Baileys-East-End-Faces.html}}
• Bailey's Stardust, National Portrait Gallery, London 2014{{Cite news |last=Brown |first=Mark |date=5 September 2013 |title=Unseen pictures to feature in David Bailey show at National Portrait Gallery |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/sep/05/unseen-pictures-david-bailey-national-portrait-gallery |access-date=30 January 2014}}
• Bailey's Stardust, National Gallery, Edinburgh 2015
• David Bailey Stardust, PAC – Padiglione di Arte Contemporanea, Milano (Italy) 2015

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{commonscatinline}}

• {{IMDb name}}
• {{FMD photographer}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071113020758/http://lizwalker.net/davidbailey.html Liz Walker interviews David Bailey, September 1990]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060427010908/http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~karlpeter/zeugma/inters/bailey.htm Text of 1994 interview.]
• [http://www.pdngallery.com/legends/bailey/intro.shtml 2000 interview (text and video)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130922201517/http://pdngallery.com/legends/bailey/intro.shtml |date=22 September 2013 }}
• [http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/11/02/london.qa/ 2006 CNN interview (text and video)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101020140331/http://www.vogue.co.uk/magazine/archive/default.aspx/Search,Photographer/Photographer,David%20Bailey/PageNumber,1 David Bailey British Vogue Covers Archive]
• Francis Hodgson, "[http://francishodgson.com/2012/07/05/david-bailey-still-troubling-after-all-these-years/ David Bailey: Still troubling after all these years]"

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bailey, David}}

Category:1938 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century Royal Air Force personnel

Category:British artists with disabilities

Category:British portrait photographers

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:English people with disabilities

Category:English photographers

Category:British fashion photographers

Category:People from East Ham

Category:People from Leytonstone

Category:People with dyslexia

Category:People with vascular dementia

Category:Photographers from the London Borough of Newham

Category:Photographers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest

Category:Photographers with disabilities