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• Artist
  Brian Duffy
• Title
  Aladdin Sane
• Date of Production
  1973
• Medium
• Dimensions
• Credit Details
  © Duffy archive

BIFB'11 - Brian Duffy: The Man Who Shot the Sixties

Brian Duffy, together with David Bailey and Terence Donovan, was one of the innovators of 'documentary' fashion photography, revolutionising fashion imagery and the fashion industry of the late 50s and 60s. These three were so influential that Cecil Beaton called them 'The Terrible Three' and Norman Parkinson dubbed them 'The Black Trinity'. Working-class photographers, they tore up an effete industry with little regard for the pretensions of the old guard. Duffy himself said at the time that "before 1960 a fashion photographer was tall, thin and camp. But we three are different: short, fat and heterosexual."

Much has been written about the impact that these three had on Vogue Magazine, photography, and London's scene, most famously perhaps that of David Bailey. However, being a little older and more analytical/intellectual in his approach, it was Duffy who led the way. His cutting edge photography documents the vibrancy of Swinging 60s London when the city was at the height of cool and places him in the history books as one of the UK's most respected photographers.

Sadly, Brian Duffy died on 31 May 2010. His friend David Puttman describes him as 'far more than a gifted photographer: he was a uniquely constructive "social anarchist", who through sheer force of personality, helped push the stultifying conservatism of the 1950's into permanent retreat. They may not know it but every participant in what today would be referred to as the "creative industries" will be forever in his debt… he questioned the validity of everything from the position of someone courageous enough to challenge just about every received convention he ran up against.'

A Ballarat International Foto Biennale exhibition