David Bailey: Timeless Modernism

From the kings of Britpop to the Queen of England – David Bailey has portrayed them all. It all started in the 60s, when the British photographer became the poster boy of a rock and roll revolution. He was one of the leading figures in the ’Swinging Sixties London’ scene, known for its excess and glamour.

Together with photographers Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy, Bailey captured those ’Swinging Sixties’ from inside out. The three gents socialized with their subjects, who they would also photograph – they hung out with movie actors, musicians and royalty. And so the ‘Black Trinity’, as the trio was called, quickly became famous themselves.

In 1960, Bailey was hired by Vogue. Four years later, his early work was bundled in the ‘Box of Pin-Ups’. The Beatles, Mick Jagger, and Jean Shrimpton were all there, but the project would never see a second print run, nor an American edition: all because of the publication of the photo that Bailey took of East End gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray. And so Bailey’s first book is now very rare.

The ‘clean’ images of Bailey left a big impression on MENDO’s Joeri, even though he is quite too young to have experienced even a bit of those ‘Swinging Sixties’. ‘The 1960s work of Bailey reminds me a lot of the pictures that Swiss photographer Rene Burri has shot in South America,’ he says. ‘Burri also took such crispy, clean images.’

Working as a Vanity Fair and Vogue photographer, Bailey has photographed many celebrities, including Johnny Depp, Kate Moss, Tracey Emin and Queen Elizabeth II. ‘I just recently found out that the unique, unguarded portrait of Queen Elizabeth is also taken by Bailey,’ Joeri says. ‘He’s one of those photographers whose images you know so well, without really knowing the photographer by his or her name.’

Over the years, Bailey would become known as one of the founding fathers of contemporary photography. Drawing inspiration from Modernism, a philosophical movement that shaped modern society, the Londoner’s work can, above all, be called timeless, Joeri reckons. ‘His work has the same value as, for instance, the work of Vivian Maier. Like her street photographs, there’s a distinct power in his shots that make the photos still very modern.

Many of Bailey’s photographs are indeed timeless analogue black and white portraits, taken in a studio in front of a white backdrop. ‘It’s common sense to me,’ he said in a recent interview with The Guardian about his approach. ‘Take everything out. I don’t see why I need a palm tree with Kate Moss. Kate’s enough. That’s why I like white backgrounds. It’s not because I’m lazy – it’s because you take everything out till you’ve just got the person’s personality. I talk to people much more than I photograph them.

And now, Bailey’s newest book has arrived. This time around, it’s not a rare book because it contains some portraits of London gangsters, but because it’s limited to 3,000 copies. ‘Visitors of the MENDO flagship store might have seen our copy of the Annie Leibovitz retrospective,’ says Joeri. ‘Bailey’s book is just as big, and features iconic photographs of 300 subjects as varied as Nelson Mandela, Salvador Dalí, Bill Gates, and Yves Saint Laurent. Only this publication is even more exclusive than the Leibovitz book: there are only 3,000 copies available. And yet, it’s one of the most complete retrospective Limited Editions I have ever seen.’

To find out more, visit the product page for the SUMO-sized ‘David Bailey’ book here, or come by our 11 Berenstraat store. Also, see our Limited Editions shelf to find more exclusive books.