Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Ronald Falloon Unseen Photos of Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton, etc On Display


An exhibition featuring the work of Ronald Falloon is set to go on display this week.
With a portfolio of iconic images including portraits of Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton and Marianne Faithfull, the photographer is synonymous with London in the Swinging Sixties.
Some of the shots have been unseen for decades, hidden away under Falloon's bed.


Twiggy
Twiggy, pictured in 1967, her London flat, in a picture taken by photographer Ronald Falloon


Jean Shrimpton wearing Susan Small
Jean Shrimpton
Jean Shrimpton, in 1962 and 1964, also features in the exhibition, showing in London this week


Ron's career as a photographer was an accidental stroke of luck - being in the right place at the right time.
Finding studying music at Heidelberg dry and unstimulated, he travelled to Cannes with his roommate.
He was offered a job photographing couples on the beach and having discovered he had a talent , went to London and got a job assisting John French.


Anya
Russian model Anya, shot in her boyfriend's garden, was considered very tall at the time and found it difficult to find work


Ron was in good company as French also taught David Bailey and Terence Donovan. 
He opened his studio in Drury Lane in 1962 working in London and Paris for all the major fashion houses and publications such as Biba, Courreges, Dior, Mary Quant, Valentino and Nina Ricci.
He shot celebrities including Cilla Black, Jean Shrimpton, Vicky Hodge, Twiggy, Pauline Stone, The Rolling Stones and the Monkees.
The photographer said in an interview: 'I haven’t kept all my pictures because I just thought oh well, that’s gone, it’s in the past. The fashions were fantastic. It was such an exciting era for British style, and I’m glad I lived through it.'


Cutlery Jewellry
The Cutlery Jewellery, featuring Marie Lise Gres, shot in 1965, is one of Falloon's most popular shots 
Biba
Biba
Model Vicky Hodge, one of Falloon's muses, wearing Biba


Today Falloon’s work and name are less widely known than that of his contemporaries, like Bailey,
which friends attribute to his unassuming character and reluctance to self-promote.
However, thanks to the recent BBC film about Jean Shrimpton, he was briefly back in the spotlight as his photographs of the iconic model in a denim shirt (commissioned for the first ever Sunday Times magazine supplement but never used) made the national papers. 
His photography features in the permanent collection of the National Gallery, London.
Ron Falloon: The man who shot the 60's, in association with Russian Standard Vodka, is  on at Pushkin House from March 21st, 5a Bloomsbury Sq, WC1. All images are available to purchase at www.vintageseekers.com


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