This collection of vintage prints from the Camera Press Archive showcases cinema's most enduring icons from the 1950s and 60s, many of which are exhibited for the first time since their initial publication.
Taken by noted press photographers, such as Sam Levin, Ed Feingersh and Horst Tappe, these images display the radical new approach immortalised by Paparazzo in Fellini's 1960 film La Dolce Vita. Whilst celebrity images were formerly heavily edited and retouched, the new breed of star was revealed in an altogether more casual mode to an insatiable public. Inspired by the new naturalism of European cinema and the demise of the Hollywood star system, photographers ditched studio lighting and large cameras for 35mm film and portable flash. This exhibition reveals the uneasy transition from gloss to grit.
Spellbound includes rare images of Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Jean Seburg, Marlene Dietrich, Ava Gardner, Sean Connery and many more. All prints are the very ones used for reproduction in the journals of the period, and carry a fascinating historical record on their reverse, with the original captions, annotations and press agency stamps.
Their remarkable longevity reveals the enduring appeal of those celebrities who remain as alluring today as they did forty years ago - an enigmatic record of a bygone glamour.
All works are available for purchase, from £250+vat.

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