When asked to name a famous British photographer from the 1960s, I would hazard a guess, 18 out of 20 clued up cats on the street would say David Bailey. That is a name that is hard to deny. He embodied everything that was needed to be a household name in that explosive decade.
Good looking, a cheeky London voice, and bags of talent. He was also good, very good. He was not alone however. Someone else who I have been aware of for a long time, but I haven’t properly studied is the larger than life figure of Terence Donovan.
The book that made me dig deeper was ‘London Photographs’ which was published to accompany an exhibition of his work at The London Museum in the year 2000.
I saw a copy six months back or so and a lot of the images have become staunch favourites of mine since. The blurb for the book goes a little like this…
‘Terence Donovan is well known for his post-war British photography and his love of London. Through his London images, Donovan has unpeeled the seediness, glamour, charm and grit of the capital. His portraits, advertising commissions and documentary work are just as important as his fashion images, all of which are featured in this volume along with glimpses of Donovan at home. The book provides a photographic representation of life in the metropolitan whirl.’
I ask you, how can anyone resist that? So what of the man himself? When I think of him, an often shown archive clip of him cruising around central London in his open top Rolls Royce comes to mind. From a humble start he had become wealthy and wasn’t ashamed to show it.
He, like Bailey, was a son of the East End. Born in Stepney in 1936, he grew up an only child. A fascination with the photographic process led him to study at the London County Council School for photoengraving and lithography from the age of 11.
It was later claimed, he didn’t actually take his first photo until the age of 15 when he became a photographic assistant, later moving on to the studio of the renowned and celebrated John French for a year from 1957.
He then opened his own studio aged 22 in 1958. His work was an immediate success and he, was very much in demand. Vogue, Queen, Nova, Harpers Bazaar, all the big fashion magazines of the day, you name them, Donovan worked for them.
He became best known for his often informal black and white work, often featuring the juxtaposition of a beautiful model posing among the bomb ruins of post war London or standing in a hardware shop or with a run down newsagent as the backdrop.
Donovan was different and he was versatile. Soon, he was in the middle of the swinging 60s, becoming well known alongside the aforementioned Bailey and that other fine photographer Brian Duffy. Mavericks to a man, they were christened the ‘Black Trinity’ by snapper royalty Norman Parkinson. They became as much a celebrity as the people they photographed. The 1966 film ‘Blow Up’ by Michelangelo Antonioni, which featured a photographer, played by David Hemming’s is based on the life and times of this infamous trio.
‘Photography fascinates me.’ he said ‘Instant fascination every time. When the fascination leaves me, I’ll give it up.’
As well as continuing to shoot for all the top magazines, he also directed over 3000 TV commercials in his time and was also at the forefront of the pop video, perhaps most famously for the song ‘Addicted to Love’ by Robert Palmer.
Married twice, his three children are Terry Donovan, co founder of Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto and all that, TV presenter Daisy Donovan and Dan Donovan one time member of Big Audio Dynamite.
Outside interests included judo in which he was a black belt.
Sadly, a sufferer of depression, he committed suicide aged 60.
A green Westminster Council plaque now marks the spot at 30 Bourdon Street where his 1970s studios once stood, a permanent reminder of the man’s his work.
Donovan Speaks…
The Mumper of SE5
