The big book of Bailey
<div><br></div><div>One of our favourites is the recent <a href="https://www.artmarket.co.uk/books/1/david-bailey-david-bailey-collectors-edition" target="_blank" rel="">David Bailey ‘sumo’</a> – so called because of its size. It’s a mammoth 50.cm . 70.cm, has 440 pages, and is luxuriously stuffed with stunning photographic portraits by the photographer whose work came to define the 1960s.<br><br></div><div>Born in 1938, Bailey was just 22 when he was contracted to Vogue as fashion photographer – he shot his first cover for the groundbreaking magazine the following year.</div><div>He went on to become one of the seminal figures of the Swinging Sixties, a photographer who was a global star in his own right and shot everyone of any note during that sparkling decade.<br><br><div class='blog-image-wrapper'><img loading='lazy' src='https://images.artmarket.co.uk/images/news/the-big-book-of-bailey-33TK3I.jpg?w=1000' alt='' style='width:100%; height:auto;' /></div><br><br></div><div>He even inspired one of the era’s classic movies – Antonioni’s Blowup, starring Bailey lookalike David Hemmings as a London fashion photographer who gets entangled in a murder.</div><div>Those who sat for him include Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Kate Moss, Nelson Mandela, Francis Bacon, Zaha Hadid, The Rolling Stones, Jack Nicholson, Brigitte Bardot and Margaret Thatcher, as well as the many glamorous models and actresses who became his girlfriends and wives: Penelope Tree, Susan Murray, Jean Shrimpton, Marie Helvin, Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Dyer (the last three all eventually becoming Mrs Bailey – he is still married to Dyer).<br><br></div><div>All of them can be found in the pages of the Bailey sumo which, with typically <a href="https://www.taschen.com" target="_blank" rel="">TASCHEN</a> flair, has a number of options to appeal to collectors.</div><div>Only 3,000 were printed. As Bailey himself says: “Big book. Small club.”<br><br><br><div class='blog-image-wrapper'><img loading='lazy' src='https://images.artmarket.co.uk/images/news/the-big-book-of-bailey-OM2HX2.jpg?w=1000' alt='David Bailey Collectors Edition' style='width:100%; height:auto;' /></div><br></div><div><br><br>Each of the 3,000 is individually signed and numbered by Bailey himself, and comes with a bespoke stand designed by renowned designer Marc Newson and a set of four interchangeable book jackets featuring legendary shots taken from Bailey’s 1965 book, Box Of Pin-Up’s: John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Jean Shrimpton, Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol.<br><br></div><div>The first 300 – the Art Editions – were divided into four sets of 75, each with an added extra: a limited edition print of one of the four covers signed by Bailey.</div><div>Bailey was both inspirational and aspirational at a time when British society was being turned on its head. From a working class family in the East End of London, he struggled at school – it later transpired that he’s dyslexic – and claims to have only attended on 33 days during one particular school year. His poor school record barred him from college, but his sheer guts, drive and determination won through, and in 1960, he was contracted to <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="">British Vogue</a> magazine as a fashion photographer.</div><div><br></div><div>Before long, he was part of a trio of snappers – the other two were the equally famous, glamorous and working class Terence Donovan and Brian Duffy – who swashbuckled their way through the Sixties, earning themselves the affectionate nickname ‘the Black Trinity’ from their fellow fashion photographer (and very much not working class) Norman Parkinson.<br><br><div class='blog-image-wrapper'><img loading='lazy' src='https://images.artmarket.co.uk/images/news/the-big-book-of-bailey-7D0U5I.jpg?w=1000' alt='David Bailey Collectors Edition' style='width:100%; height:auto;' /></div><br><br><br></div><div>Women fell at Bailey’s feet – Penelope Tree described him during his time at Vogue 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’. This from a woman of whom John Lennon, when asked to describe her in three words, said: “Hot, hot, hot, smart, smart, smart!”<br><br></div><div>And yet another model, and later American Vogue’s creative director, Grace Coddington 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.” It’s tempting then, perhaps, to view Bailey as style over substance, a lucky guy with looks and chutzpah who happened to be in all the right places during just the right decade – but it would be so, so wrong to do so.<br></div><div><br></div><div>His black-and-white portraits are not only revealing records of individual sitters, but a remarkable social record of a time like no other – as his friend, the renowned British artist <a href="http://www.damienhirst.com" target="_blank" rel="">Damien Hirst</a>, says: “Bailey’s pictures are immediate and present. He’s the master of his art and he’s created a mind-blowing visual language.” And Bailey’s talents weren’t limited to just taking the pictures: as Francis Hodgson, Professor of the Culture of Photography at the University of Brighton and long-time Bailey scholar once observed: “He prints black and white like a silversmith chases metal.”</div><div><br></div><div><i>“He prints black and white like a silversmith chases metal.”</i></div><div><i>Francis Hodgson, Professor of the Culture of Photography at the University of Brighton<br><br><br></i><div class='blog-image-wrapper'><img loading='lazy' src='https://images.artmarket.co.uk/images/news/the-big-book-of-bailey-ZC25ME.jpg?w=1000' alt='' style='width:100%; height:auto;' /></div><i><br></i></div><div><br><br>Fancy owning your very own copy of this incredible book? We have a selection of <span><a href="https://www.artmarket.co.uk/art/david-bailey-david-bailey-collectors-edition" target="_blank" rel="">Collectors Editions With a Set of Four Book Jackets</a> available for purchase and the even more incredible </span><a href="https://www.artmarket.co.uk/art/david-bailey-david-bailey-art-edition-no-226300-andy-warhol-1965" target="_blank" rel="">David Bailey, Art Edition No. 226–300 ‘Andy Warhol, 1965’</a>. <br><br><div><div><span>Get in touch with the gallery on 01482 876003 or via email through <a target="" rel="">gallery@artmarket.co.uk</a> to discuss your <a href="https://www.artmarket.co.uk/artist/davidbailey" target="_blank" rel="">David Bailey</a> buying options, new collections and all things art!! </span></div></div><div></div><br></div><div><br></div>