Terrence Donovan

In the summer of 2016 I partook in a short course in fashion styling at Central St Martin's, the course was fun and insightful obviously, but perhaps the part I loved most was the chance it gave me to 'live' in central London alone for a week.

Living in Newcastle popping into London isn't something I can afford, or have the time to do often, so sadly, many exhibits and event pass me by. While in London I took the opportunity to visit all the many of the exhibitions and locations I had been wanting to visit but could never convince whoever I was with to join me in. One of these exhibitions was the Terrance Donovan exhibition at the Photographer's Gallery. I was reminded of how much I enjoyed the exhibition when Donovan's name was mentioned in a recent lecture and decided to reminisce about the whole thing in a blog post.

Although now a little overdone, Donovan was one of the pioneers of gritty post-war London imagery. He used the damaged industrial landscape to his advantage creating authentic pieces in coherence with the time period. To me Donovan embodies the swinging sixties, his pictures of icons like Twiggy very much play into the 'mod' aesthetic, and although thats not a style I would ever adopt myself, I adore seeing other people's interpretations of it.

Donovan seemed to really pioneer the idea of the 'new' celebrity, which was something I didn't realise before seeing the exhibition. Most of his photos seemed to be of recognisable faces. He captured glossy yet intimate shots of icons such as Pulp's Jarvis Cocker (which is one of my favourites).

I liked the way that inspite of having a very rigid portrait orientated photographic style, Donovan was not afraid to dabble in some of the other trends bubbling up at the time, such as his slightly more surreal pieces (in the first pic of the post). I think this fun edge adds a level of excitement to his other wise quite safe (yet iconic) work.