LONDON.- Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions’ Smile: Photographs and Photobooks from the 60s will take place at 1pm, Friday 20th May 2016 at 24 Maddox Street, London W1S 1PP. This exciting collection of photographs and photobooks features some of the most iconic images from the sixties many of which are embedded in our cultural history. The auction includes images from the music, fashion and film industries as well as popular culture and events which made the news of the day.
Amongst music photography's best-known images is Iain MacMillan’s universally acclaimed shots of The Beatles on Abbey Road, featured above. The original idea was conceived by Paul McCartney, who sketched out exactly how he wanted the album cover to look. Local police only allowed traffic to be held up for 10 minutes for MacMillan to take his photographs, and he managed to get six shots. Here are the original six frames as well as the back cover of Abbey Road, estimated at £50,000- £70,000 (lot 20). The Swinging London of the Beatles is also depicted with images of Twiggy (lots 1 & 2), Jane Shrimpton (lots 3 & 4), David Frost and TW3 (lots 7 & 8), The Who (lot 13), David Hemming and Vanessa Belgrave in Blow Up (lot 12). A Box of Pinups by the photographer synonymous with the decade, David Bailey, also features and includes 36 portraits of the stars of the 60s (lot 9, £5,000-8,000). A photograph of The Rolling Stones on the brink of fame, by Terry O'Neill, is offered at £3,000-5,000 (lot 21).
Other highlights include a series of fashion photographs of the actor and model Brigitte Bardot by French photographer Sam Lévin (1904 - 1992). Lévin, regarded as one of the most important glamour photographers of the 20th century, photographed Bardot over a period of 20 years. Particularly evocative images of the idol include Brigitte with Black Lace, 1963 (lot 28) and Golden Chair, 1963 (lot 31) along with three other portraits, each estimated of £1,000-£1,500. Further portraits of Bardot by Terry O'Neill, Jean Barthet and Patrick Morin reveal various facets of the muse, on set and in real life. The auction includes other icons of the decade: Raquel Welch on a cross, (lot 42, est. £4,000-6,000), her personal response to feminists whom she felt were ‘crucifying’ her because of her sex symbol status; Marilyn Monroe in her last photo sessions, 1962 (lots 43-47) and Jane Birkin, in French sexual revolution campaign mode, (lots 37-39).
Film lovers of the decade will particularly enjoy shots of a playful Jane Fonda on the set of Barbarella in 1967 (lots 88-90), est. £700-£900 each). Other movies covered include Charade, from 1962, with on location shots of its stars, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, (lots 80-84, each at £400-600); the cream pie fight removed from the final cut of Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove (lot 82, est. £800-1,200) and portraits of French New Wave symbol Jean-Paul Belmondo on set (lots 73-77). Images of Jane Fonda, (lots 72 & 78) and Claudia Cardinale (lot 79) also make an appearance.
In addition, the auction covers events which hit the headlines, notably developments in space exploration: kicking off in 1961 with the Mercury Seven (lot 67), Apollo 11 in 1969, and NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin on the moon with the American flag, captured by Neil Armstrong (lot 71, est. £3,000-£4,000). Bob Dylan appears with Subterranean Homesick Blues ‘government’ placard (lot 58, est. £1,000-£1,500), and a coy Christine Keeler (lot 6, est. £3,000-£5,000) is shot by photographer Lewis Morley (1925-2013), who became well-known for capturing Keeler, the showgirl who made the news in the early 60s through the ‘Profumo Affair’.
The Vietnam War is seen from the stance of Vietnamese journalists in lot 61, and the ensuing protests that the lengthy conflict created amongst the younger generation is captured in John Lennon and Yoko Ono's infamous Bed Peace (lot 60, est. £400-600). The rise of the hippie movement as played out at the Woodstock Festivals of 1968 and 1969 is shot respectively by Mark Edwards (lot 62) and Jim Marshall (lot 63).
Photographers Norman Parkinson, Bert Stern, Martine Franck, Gered Mankowitz, Douglas Kirkland, Colin Jones, the 1960s paprazzi Willi Rizzo, and many others also feature in this exciting auction.
The sale is a unique opportunity to acquire images from the swinging decade in which photography became the pre-eminent, global medium.
