‘Swinging Sixties’
Brian Duffy, the British photographer whose pictures captured the
mood of the ‘Swinging Sixties’, has died aged 76, a statement on his
website confirmed Saturday.
He died on Monday after losing his battle with a degenerative lung
condition, and “will be greatly missed by his family, friends and all
those so many people whose hearts and souls he had touched,” the
statement said.
Duffy, David Bailey and Terence Donovan were dubbed “The Black
Trinity”, a trio of photographers who helped shape the image of London
in the 1960s with their striking portraits of actors, models and
musicians.
Duffy studied dress design at St Martins School of Art but began
working as a photographer with British Vogue in 1957, the start of a
hugely influential career which culminated in him famously trying to
destroy all his work in 1979.
Bailey, the only surviving member of their trio, paid tribute to a
cantankerous but entertaining man.
“I will deeply miss arguing with him,” he told The Sunday Telegraph.
“If you said ‘Good morning’ to Duffy, he’d question it, that was his
charm but I could do that Cockney thing with him of defusing it with
humour. “Cantankerous was a word made for Duffy, it was just his
character. You always knew it was never going to be dull with him,
because he was always going to pick an argument somewhere down the
line.”
He added: “He had that Irish madness about him, he was very
quick-witted, and the banter held us three together. Even though he
could be grumpy, I remember laughing all the time with him.” Duffy is
survived by his wife June and four children.
AFP |
