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David Bailey's box of pin-ups

Photograph
1965 (printed and published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

David Bailey rose to fame as a fashion photographer in the early 1960s, his photographs. He published 'David Bailey's box of pin-ups' in 1965 as a loose portfolio of 36 portraits of the mainly-male fashionable elite that, as the cover description states, 'belong to Bailey's own world of fashion, pop music and the Ad Lib [nightclub]'. Each portrait is accompanied by notes by Francis Wyndham. Together, they constitute a celebration of the growing celebrity culture of the Sixties, and many of them have become the definitive images of key figures of cultural life in London during the Swinging Sixties.
Surprisingly, only four of the pin-ups are women, all of whom are models; as the notes explain, 'in the age of Mick Jagger, it is the boys who are the pin-ups'. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the singer-song writing team of the Beatles, were the ultimate 1960s pin-ups.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • David Bailey's box of pin-ups (assigned by artist)
  • John Lennon and Paul McCartney (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Half-tone print
Brief description
John Lennon and Paul McCartney, half-tone print from 'David Bailey's box of pin-ups', by David Bailey, published 1965
Physical description
Black and white3/4 lenght portrait of John Lennon with eyes closed and Paul McCartney, hands in trouser loops, looking on.
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Printed; Reverse, top left)
  • Text about John Lennon and Paul McCartney (same as E.2047:17-2004) (Printed; reverse, top left; Wyndham, Francis)
Credit line
Given by Mark Haworth-Booth
Object history
David Bailey rose to fame as a fashion photographer in the early 1960s, his photographs. He published 'David Bailey's box of pin-ups' in 1965 as a loose portfolio of 36 portraits of the mainly-male fashionable elite that, as the cover description states, 'belong to Bailey's own world of fashion, pop music and the Ad Lib [nightclub]'. Each portrait is accompanied by notes by Francis Wyndham. Together, they constitute a celebration of the growing celebrity culture of the Sixties, and many of them have become the definitive images of key figures of cultural life in London during the Swinging Sixties.
Subjects depicted
Summary
David Bailey rose to fame as a fashion photographer in the early 1960s, his photographs. He published 'David Bailey's box of pin-ups' in 1965 as a loose portfolio of 36 portraits of the mainly-male fashionable elite that, as the cover description states, 'belong to Bailey's own world of fashion, pop music and the Ad Lib [nightclub]'. Each portrait is accompanied by notes by Francis Wyndham. Together, they constitute a celebration of the growing celebrity culture of the Sixties, and many of them have become the definitive images of key figures of cultural life in London during the Swinging Sixties.
Surprisingly, only four of the pin-ups are women, all of whom are models; as the notes explain, 'in the age of Mick Jagger, it is the boys who are the pin-ups'. John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the singer-song writing team of the Beatles, were the ultimate 1960s pin-ups.
Bibliographic reference
David Bailey's box of pin-ups, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1965
Collection
Accession number
E.2047:24-2004

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Record createdFebruary 11, 2004
Record URL
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