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Duffy

Duffy

1933, Ireland. Died in London in 2010.
Photographer. Duffy never intended becoming a photographer. Studying dress design at Saint Martins College of Art, Duffy pursued brief stints in fashion design and illustration before turning his hand to photography in the late 1950s. Cutting his teeth as fourth assistant to Adrian Flowers, Duffy picked up his first commission from the Sunday Times in 1957, the year that he started at Vogue. Quickly becoming a Vogue favourite, Duffy’s avant-garde style was instrumental in pushing the formerly society-led magazine to remain relevant as the teenage revolution ensued. Duffy ushered in a new style of documentary fashion photography alongside his ‘Black Trinity’ contemporaries David Bailey and Terence Donovan. Together they pushed aside the stuffy conservatism of the fifties in favour of a more innovative and energetic approach that perfectly fitted post-war ‘swinging London’. By 1961 Duffy started working for French Elle, where he believes he did his best work. Inspired by a culture that encouraged experimentation and subversion, Duffy remained working with Elle for nearly 20 years, alongside many other publications around the world. Duffy, Bailey and Donovan heralded a new era where the photographer was the star. Setting up his own studio in 1963 at his family home in Swiss Cottage, North London, Duffy captured the mood and ever-changing cast of rock stars, actors, models, writers, and politicians of the day in his innovative and dynamic style. Duffy’s avant garde style is evident in the award-winning commercial commissions he delivered at the height of his career. Duffy became one of the few photographers to shoot two Pirelli calendars in both 1965 and 1973. He also shot three record sleeves for David Bowie, including the now iconic Aladdin Sane. Surreal campaigns for Benson & Hedges and Smirnoff Vodka are some of Duffy’s most recognisable commercial work. Created before the advent of digital trickery, these ingenious shots were a result of his detailed understanding of metaphysical photography, as well as often dangerous set-ups that would be impossible to recreate today. By 1979, Duffy was one of the biggest names on the London photographic scene. Known only by his last name, his fame eclipsed that of those he photographed. That was until one day in 1979 when Duffy took his transparencies and negatives into his garden and set them alight in a ceremonial finale to his career as a photographer, having felt he had said all he could say through the medium. Drawing on the revived archives lovingly restored by his son in recent years, this artworks and book re-ignite the legacy of a creative visionary whose work both documented and defined the time in which it was created.
Link here for more info about the exhibitions in Spain: "Duffy. Retrospectiva" and "Duffy. Bowie Series".

Duffy.
1933, Irlanda. Muere en Londres en 2010.
Fotógrafo. Duffy comenzó estudiando diseño de moda en la Saint Martins College of Art. A finales de los 50 y tras ser asistente del fotógrafo Adrian Flowers, consigue su primer trabajo para el Sunday Times. En ese mismo 1957 empieza a trabajar en Vogue. Rapidamente, se convierte en el fotógrafo favorito de esta publicación siendo su mirada y estilo vanguardistas los que le sirven a Vogue para seguir siendo referencia al nuevo movimiento juvenil que se vislumbra. En 1961 Duffy comienza a trabajar para Elle France donde realiza su mejor trabajo. Inspirado por una cultura que lo arrrastraba a la experimentación y a la subversión, Duffy trabaja para Elle durante 20 años, a la vez que para otras publicaciones de todo el mundo. Duffy, Bailey y Donovan, "La Trinidad Negra", reinan en una nueva era donde el fotógrafo es la estrella. Las imágenes de Duffy documentan la energía de la escena del “swinging London” de los 60, cuando la capital británica estaba en su máximo esplendor, siendo sus retratos de estrellas del rock, actores, modelos, escritores y políticos testimonios del dinamismo cultural del momento en el que fueron tomadas. El estilo vanguardista de Duffy se evidencia con los premiados trabajos publicitarios que desarrolla en la cima de su carrera. Duffy es uno de los pocos fotógrafos que realizan dos calendarios Pirelli, en 1965 y 1973, y alcanza gran fama comercial con sus campañas para Benson & Hedges y Smirnoff, ingeniosas imágenes resultado, por un lado, de su conocimiento de la fotografía metafísica y, de otro, de peligrosas escenas imposible de recrear hoy en día; todas ellas creadas antes de la llegada del trucaje fácil de la era digital. Asimismo, destaca su gran aportación a la iconografía musical de la época con la creación de la icónica portada de “Aladdin Sane”, de David Bowie; artista junto al que haría también trabajos posteriomente como “Scary Monsters” o “The Lodger”. En 1979 Brian Duffy decidió dejar la fotografía y quemó todos sus negativos y diapositivas poniendo el punto final a una carrera en una disciplina de la que sentía que ya había dicho todo lo que tenía que decir. Las fotografías y el libro que se muestran constituyen la memoria de lo recuperado y restaurado por su hijo. El legado de un visionario cuyo trabajo definió y documentó el período en el que fue creado.
Pulsa aquí para más información sobre las exposiciones de Duffy en España: "Duffy. Retrospectiva" y"Duffy. Bowie Series".