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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.
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 received his M.B.E. in October 1965, and returned it in 1969 in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra affair and the Vietnam war. This caused as much furore as the Beatles' initial decoration.
The portraits 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.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • David Bailey's box of pin-ups (assigned by artist)
  • John Lennon, M.B.E. (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Half-tone print
Brief description
John Lennon, M.B.E, half-tone print from 'David Bailey's box of pin-ups', by David Bailey, published 1965
Physical description
Black and white half-tone portrait of John Lennon with his eyes shut.
Dimensions
  • Width: 32cm
  • Height: 37cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
John Lennon, M.B.E. (Printed; Reverse, top left)
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]'. 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'.
The portraits 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.
Subject 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.
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 received his M.B.E. in October 1965, and returned it in 1969 in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra affair and the Vietnam war. This caused as much furore as the Beatles' initial decoration.
The portraits 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.
Bibliographic reference
David Bailey's box of pin-ups, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1964
Collection
Accession number
E.2047:6-2004

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Record createdFebruary 10, 2004
Record URL
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