David Bailey

David Bailey brought a direct, modern energy to fashion and portrait photography and became one of the defining image-makers of 1960s London. After assisting photographer John French, he began working for Vogue and produced books including Box of Pin-Ups and Goodbye Baby & Amen, which treated actors, artists, musicians and models as participants in a rapidly changing social world.

The National Portrait Gallery identifies Bailey as a leading figure in the period’s cultural scene and records his first museum exhibition there in 1971. His combination of graphic clarity, informality and celebrity helped shift the public image of the fashion photographer.