Until 26th May 2013
William Morris Gallery, Lloyd Park, Forest Road, London, E17 4PP
Opening Times: Wednesday to Sunday, 10am-5pm
Admission: FREE
For further Information: 020 8496 4390/ wmg.enquiries@walthamforest.gov.uk
“It takes a lot of imagination to be a good photographer. You need less imagination to be a painter because you can invent things. But in photography everything is so ordinary; it takes a lot of looking before you learn to see the extraordinary.”
The recently refurbished William Morris Gallery has opened its doors to the legendary British photographer David Bailey, where he has returned to the borough of his birth place to exhibit intimate photographs of the East End at Walthamstow’s William Morris Gallery, offering a rare insight into the faces and characters synonymous with the decade that gave us the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
David Bailey is one of the world’s leading photographers. Born in Leytonstone in 1938, he taught himself photography and in 1959 became assistant to fashion photographer John French. Bailey began the 1960s with a contract with Vogue to become the decade’s iconic chronicler with two defining portrait publications David Bailey’s box of pin-ups (1965) and Goodbye Baby and Amen (1969). They focused on a new social order that evolved from the decade of change. As a freelance photographer he has worked for every major publication in the world.
Bailey has exhibited worldwide and continues to produce numerous publications. The next publication ‘David Bailey’s East End’, will be published by Steidl (expected 2013). His television work includes documentaries on photographers and directors including Cecil Beaton, Andy Warhol and Luciano Visconti. He also wrote and directed a short film called The Lady is a Tramp, to coincide with the publication of his book of the same name in 1995. In 2001 he was awarded a CBE in recognition of his achievements.
East End Faces will run from 23rd February to 26th May and complements Bailey’s recent successful East End exhibition that ran as part of the Create Festival in August last year. East End Faces will include previously unseen pictures from the 1960s, featuring streetscapes, characters and scenes of east London life. The exhibition will provide a rare opportunity to view the East End through the lens of a local icon. Bailey is one of east London’s most famous sons and his iconic photographs immortalised the 60s in London.
Information courtesy: William Morris Gallery
