Written by Anthony Fitzsimmons Saturday, 26 March 2011 22:38

'Terry O'Neill ~ 50 Years at the Top' at the Chris Beetles Gallery in London

London.- An exhibition at the Chris Beetles Gallery celebrates Terry O'Neills half-century of iconic photographs. Including new and previously unseen prints from the 1960s, "Terry O'Neill: 50 Years at the Top" runs until April 23rd 2011.  It was 50 years ago that Terry O'Neill first picked up a camera, and began an astonishing career. First becoming a key photographer in London's heady 1960s cultural milieu, he went on to capture most major stars of stage and screen, and has helped to define our very notion of 'celebrity'. His famous photographs of Brigitte Bardot smoking a cigar, Frank Sinatra with his bodyguards sauntering down the Miami boardwalk and Faye Dunaway the morning after her Oscar win have become iconic images that have made Terry one of the world's most popular and collectible photographers. Terry's work forms a visual Who's Who of cinema, rock and pop music, theatre and fashion over five decades. His sitters include Bardot, Sinatra, Dunaway, Michael Caine, Audrey Hepburn, Paul Newman, Lee Marvin, Elizabeth Taylor, Catherine Deneuve, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, and his photographs offer an intimate insight into their lives, both private and public. The exhibition is a mix of exquisite small vintage prints and striking large modern prints that O'Neill has created from his original negatives. Many have never been seen before, having been discovered only in the last few months during extensive research of his archive.





Terry O'Neill was born on July 30, 1938 in London and began his photographic career working for a photographic unit for an airline at London's Heathrow Airport. By chance he photographed a sleeping figure in a waiting room; when that person was revealed to be the Home Secretary, O'Neill found further employment on Fleet Street with The Daily Sketch in 1959. His reputation grew during the 1960s, and in addition to photographing the elite the decade's showbusiness icons, such as Judy Garland, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, he also photographed members of the British Royal Family, and several prominent politicians, showing a more natural and human side to these subjects than had usually been portrayed before. Among his most famous images are the now-famous color and black and white shots of then-girlfriend Faye Dunaway at dawn on March 29, 1977, lounging next to the swimming pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel the morning after winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for 'Network', with several newspapers scattered around her and her Oscar statuette prominently shown on a table beside her breakfast tray. A black and white shot from the series hangs in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London. O'Neill was also credited (as Terrence O'Neill) as an executive producer of the 1981 film 'Mommie Dearest'. His only other film credit was for still photography for the 1987 film, Aria.




The Chris Beetles Gallery is a large informal gallery in the centre of London's best known art dealing district and specialises in over 2 centuries of English art. Chris Beetles who owns the business has been dealing for 25 years, and for 16 years from this location in the heart of St James's. Though firmly established as a watercolour specialist and expert, he also deals significantly in oils, photographs and illustrations. The inventory is the biggest in the country and ranges from the late 18th century through the cream of the 19th and 20th century, to a small group of traditional contemporary gallery artists. In addition the gallery is acknowledged as showing the greatest stock of Illustrators and Cartoonists in the world (an affordable area of art). The Chris Beetles Gallery has done much to popularise this rapidly growing collectors area. The catalogues the gallery produces for its annual Illustrators exhibition in November have become the definitive literature on the subject, bought by libraries and museums around the world. Specialist exhibitions change on a monthly basis while a permanent display of the full range of pictures is maintained on other floors of this bright dynamic space. A complete framing service and advice on valuation and restoration is available on site. Visit the gallery at ... http://www.chrisbeetles.com

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