{"id":29824,"date":"2025-07-28T23:57:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T23:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/29824\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T23:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T23:57:09","slug":"iconic-david-bailey-portfolio-found-in-designers-personal-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/29824\/","title":{"rendered":"Iconic David Bailey Portfolio Found in Designer’s Personal Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Black-and-white<\/a>Paul McCartney and John Lennon from Bailey\u2019s portfolio. <\/p>\n

A rare portfolio belonging to iconic British fashion photographer David Bailey has been discovered in the personal collection of a graphic designer who worked with Bailey. <\/p>\n

Box of Pin-Ups (1964) is arguably Bailey\u2019s most famous collection of photographs, which captured Swinging London, including Mick Jagger, The Beatles, Jean Shrimpton, David Hockney, and many more. The photos are simple in nature \u2014 almost all of them shot on a plain white background \u2014 but characterized by intriguing poses that capture the energy and optimism of the era. <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a>Mick Jagger and Michael Caine. <\/p>\n

The Guardian reports<\/a> that the portfolio \u2014 a proof copy \u2014 was found in the possession of David Hillman, the designer who helped create Box of Pin-Ups. It is a box portfolio containing 36 prints that are in \u201cnear-mint condition.\u201d Its existence was previously unknown. <\/p>\n

\u201cMark, a friend of David Bailey\u2019s, came up with the idea for a box of pin-ups \u2014 an idea Bailey was enthusiastic about,\u201d Hillman writes in a letter that confirms the authenticity of the portfolio. \u201cBailey selected the photographs, and Mark tasked me with designing and managing the project under his direction.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>The proof copy was on sale for $33,500 (\u00a325,000).
\n Controversy <\/p>\n

Box of Pin-Ups was published in 1965 and was a great success, marking a shift in how photographers could sell their work. However, neither a U.S. edition or a second edition was ever released, and this was in part due to the inclusion of Ronnie and Reggie Kray, two notorious London gangsters. <\/p>\n

\"Three<\/a>The Kray Twins, Lord Snowdon (who objected to the Kray Twins\u2019 inclusion), and Jagger. <\/p>\n

Immortalized in the film Legend (2015), in which both Ronnie and Reggie were played by actor Tom Hardy, the Krays\u2019 presence in the collection was strongly objected to by Lord Snowdon, a fellow photographer and member of the aristocracy who dated Princess Margaret. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the controversy tarnished the project\u2019s reception in some circles, it paradoxically amplified its allure in others, cementing its rebellious edge,\u201d Oliver Bayliss of Bayliss Rare Books tells The Guardian.<\/a><\/p>\n

Bayliss says the portfolio is an \u201cincredibly rare item\u201d and that proof copies such as this one are much sought after in his trade. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes it so fascinating is that this isn\u2019t just a production copy or a variant. It is the prototype \u2014 the moment Bailey\u2019s concept became a finished object. And it comes from Hillman, one of the great British designers of the postwar period, whose role in shaping this work has often been overshadowed by the fame of the images themselves,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Bayliss Rare Books<\/a> is managing the sale. <\/p>\n

Image credits: Photographs by David Bailey. Courtesy of Bayliss Rare Books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul McCartney and John Lennon from Bailey\u2019s portfolio. A rare portfolio belonging to iconic British fashion photographer David…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,18393,1120,96,388,18394,11247,18395,18396,18397,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-29824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-davidbailey","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-london","15":"tag-mickjagger","16":"tag-portfolio","17":"tag-proofcopy","18":"tag-swinging60s","19":"tag-thebeatles","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}