A Big Book of Bold Portraits

In 1965, when portrait and fashion photographer David Bailey released his groundbreaking book Box Of Pin-Ups, he became an instant trendsetter for 1960s London. Mick Jagger was the best man at his wedding to actress Catherine Deneuve, and Bailey was also the inspiration for the classic 1966 movie “Blow-Up,” which follows a hot young fashion photographer who believes he captured a murder on film.

“From the Swinging ’60s to the present day, Bailey has never stopped pushing the boundaries of his signature in-your-face portraiture and is widely regarded as one of the great postwar photographers,” writes Taschen, the publishing house behind SUMO, a retrospective of Bailey’s renowned career.

After two years of research into Bailey’s personal archives, SUMO gathers 300 portraits from the 1950s – 2010s of subjects as varied as Nelson Mandela, the Beatles, the Queen, Salvador Dalí, Bill Gates, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, the Rolling Stones, and hundreds more. “Through penetrating pictures of the beautiful and the notorious, the idolized and the powerful, friends and family, writers, artists, and fellow photographers, Bailey presents a sweeping cultural history of the last 60 years,” states Taschen.

In the forward to the book, Bailey’s friend Damien Hirst writes, “He’s the master of his art and he’s created a mind-blowing visual language.” Additional text includes a three-part essay on Bailey’s portraiture by noted photography critic Francis Hodgson.

Limited to a total of 3,000 numbered and signed copies, each edition comes with a bookstand designed by Marc Newson and a set of four book jackets featuring John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Jean Shrimpton, Mick Jagger, and Andy Warhol.

SUMO is also available in four Art Editions with signed prints.

SUMO
By David Bailey
Taschen