Shooting Stars

As the late Brian Duffy became increasingly ill from a degenerative lung disease his son, Chris Duffy, also a photographer,  began to piece together what would become the most comprehensive collection of his work.

David Bowie, Aladdin Sane, 1973
David Bowie, Aladdin Sane, 1973

The exhibition, Duffy A Visual Record of the Photographic Genius opens today following the recent publication of Duffy, the first and only book of his work.

The exhibition –  even more so then the book – shines a light onto lost work, gathered from attics and archives.

Debbie Harry 1977
Debbie Harry 1977

The exhumation of this work is made all the more potent as it was Duffy himself who tried to destroy transparencies and negatives, setting fire to everything he could get his hands on, marking a dramatic exit from photography in 1979.

Chris Duffy has finally extinguished the flames, though, and presents Brian Duffy’s career through early Vogue work, to French Elle, and Nova, capturing the energy of a post war 1960s London.

Jane Birkin 1965
Jane Birkin 1965

‘Most of this stuff has been kicking about under stairs, in crevices, attics and garages, but French Elle also kindly let me in to their archive,’ says Chris Duffy.

It seems that he’s still happening across undiscovered items. ‘Last week I found the David Bowie Aladdin Sane album cover. We already had the front cover but this is an original die transfer of an inner double page.’

Jean Shrimpton 1963
Jean Shrimpton 1963

It won’t make the exhibition but may be lent or donated to an upcoming Victoria & Albert museum British art and culture exhibition.

John Lennon 1965
John Lennon 1965

Other rarities making the Duffy exhibition include orignial tear sheets, contact sheets and test shots which have somehow survived the original editing process.

Michael Caine, contact sheet 1964
Michael Caine, contact sheet 1964

Duffy runs from 8 July – 28 August 2011 at Idea Generation Gallery, 11 Chance Street, 
London E2

Hide Comments (3)Show Comments (3)
Comments
  • converse all stars November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    2011 Converse All Star Chuck Taylor Summer Sandals Black Canvas , it with cool and new design theory and various suitable colors is very outstanding and eye-shining in this new season of 2011.and Its design is enjoyed by all the canvas shoes of face. That can be in indoor wear, also can be weared in outdoor.Canvas style has all the authentic features of the basketball version, with elastic goring beneath the tongue for a perfect fit without the constriction of laces.Strong identification of Modern social life circle will draw on observation of consumer purchasing behavior, to infer the level of his wealth, and appropriate social status, personal social status is largely dependent on their social life circle of the level of wealth owned by the identification of However, the wealth level is private information, you can not see the outside world, which makes individuals have the motivation to fight through conspicuous consumption, the ideal social status. In this case, to show off the fancy of consumers is not entirely the value of goods, not a cow and a deer is clearly useful, but most people will prefer the former because "deer" is represented by the symbol more scarce and more expensive sake. LV purse except as a commodity, but more often has become a symbol, reflecting the respective consumer orientation and their respective social classes, the main DAMIER CANAS and MONOGRAM CANAS series has a strong identification, although in style, Colors may vary, but let everyone see it at first glance, will know the brand LV handbags , buyers can be given full attention, the subject of envy of the opportunity.

  • James Webb November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    Book design by Webb & Webb Design Limited!

  • Jonathan Butters November 30, -0001 at 12:00 am

    🙂

  • Post a comment

Latest articles