Perceptions

by Patrick Lichfield

Patrick Lichfield inhabited a world of beauty, class and style that he documented with conspicuous success for more than 40 years, in the process creating some of the 20th century's most iconic images - such as the Princess of Wales in her fairytale dress bending down to comfort a bridesmaid; the Queen, at ease and unselfconscious, relaxing with her beloved dogs; Mick and Bianca Jagger laughing together after their rock-star wedding. With his uniquely sympathetic eye for faces, he photographed a range of personalities for Life, Queen and Vogue magazines from the mid-1960s stars of stage and screen, politicians, aristocracy and royalty, sportsmen and women, models and socialites, as well as ordinary men and women going about their daily lives. Although he came to be identified with photographs of the illustrious, Lichfield was also an acute observer of the world around him, and his lesser-known photojournalism as well as his portraits make up a fascinating picture of the period in which he lived and worked. Curated by Martin Harrison, Perceptions is filled with photographs from Lichfield's entire archive, over half of which have never been seen before. This superbly produced retrospective, the first representing his complete career, establishes Patrick Lichfield as one of the great British photographers of the late 20th Century.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2011

Reviews

[Kimmo Sinivuori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat disappointing book of photographs by the aristocratic British photographer Patrick Lichfield. The photos of Michael Caine, the Duke of Windsor tying his Windsor tie knot, the Royal Family, and esp. those of John Paul and Talitha Getty, are of course iconic but I have the sense that for this book only the most obvious crowd pleasers were chosen. I believe that there are in Lichfield's archives many much more interesting photos than these shown in this book. Thus, I would be most interest to see more photos from the Getty residence in Marrakesh which by all accounts seems to have been a paradise of beauty and excess. The two photos of Getty's just make you hungry for more. Why not a book on just the Getty's in Marrakesh? I think the problem with many books like this is that the editor tries to cover too many different areas in order to bring out the different interests of the photographer, portraying the lensman as some kind of renaissance man, whereas these books should just concentrate on the real strengths and go deep in them. Nevertheless, a a book of photographs worth digging into.