Lichfield: The Early Years

    Marsha Hunt,    by Patrick Lichfield,    October 1968,    NPG x128488,    Lichfield / Condé Nast Archive, © Condé Nast Publications Marsha Hunt, by Patrick Lichfield, October 1968, NPG x128488, Lichfield / Condé Nast Archive, © Condé Nast Publications

This display celebrated the 40th anniversary of the start of Patrick Lichfield's life as a photographer and brought together over 30 of his most interesting early works. It focused on his career as a leading participant and chronicler of the Swinging Sixties, including his period with Vogue, and followed on to his definitive and intimate photographs of HM The Queen and The Royal Family in the 1970s and 1980s, culminating with the wedding of The Prince of Wales in 1981.

Highlights from the 1960s included the group portrait Swinging London featuring Roman Polanski, David Hockney and Lady Antonia Fraser, as well as a nude portrait of Marsha Hunt for the musical Hair and a striking colour portrait of Yves St Laurent taken in Marrakesh. From the 1970s the selection included portraits of Joanna Lumley, Michael Caine and an intimate portrait of Mick and Bianca Jagger at their wedding in St Tropez in 1971.

One screen in the Balcony Gallery was devoted to portraits of The Royal Family, from Lichfield's first official royal sitting with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in 1967 and the large group portrait of 26 members of the Royal Family at Windsor (1971) to an intimate portrait of a young Prince Charles and Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones at Balmoral and refreshingly informal behind-the-scenes portraits from the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales in July 1981.

'It has been an enormous pleasure to look back and select the images for this exhibition. I am fortunate that my career has brought me into contact with many interesting and beautiful people; my work is a permanent record of that,' commented Patrick Lichfield, who has a longstanding relationship with both OLYMPUS and EPSON and has fully embraced digital technologies in his current work. Lichfield's relationship with the former began in the 1970s through a series of advertising campaigns. Many of the photographs in the exhibition were taken using OLYMPUS cameras, and all were digitally reproduced using EPSON technology and printed out on the large format EPSON Stylus Pro 9600 to give prints which rival traditional photographic processes, whilst allowing more flexibility.

Past display archive
3 May - 31 August 2003

Balcony Gallery

Free

About Patrick Lichfield

Patrick Lichfield first took to the camera at the age of six. After starting on his own in the early sixties he found an increasing demand for editorial work, most immediately Life and Queen Magazine and many national daily newspapers. His greatest break came when he was given a five year contract with American Vogue by Diana Vreeland. Hard on the heels of editorial work, came numerous advertising commissions worldwide. For a number of years he also undertook the prestigious Unipart Calendar. In 1981 he was appointed official photographer at the wedding of The Prince of Wales. More recently he has been commissioned to work for the British Tourist Authority, fulfilling both photographic and ambassadorial roles, and The Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Patrick Lichfield has been awarded Fellowships of both The British Institute of Professional Photographers and The Royal Photographic Society. He appears regularly on television, has published many books on photography and his pictures have been exhibited throughout the world. A number of national and local charities are supported by his patronage.

Private View party photographs

Photographs take photos of a couple, seen from behind
Lord Lichfield and Lady Annunziata Asquith
Two people look at photographs on a gallery wall
Lord Lichfield and Jill Kennington
Two men speak in a crowded room
Snowdon and Sir David Frost
Two men smile for the camera
John Swannell and Terry O'Neill
A group of men stand in conversation
John Swannell and Terry O'Neill
A woman in a white suit and a man in a pink jacket
A man in a suit holding a cocktail
Jocelyn Stevens
A man in a suit
Nigel Havers
A woman in a white dress amongst a group of people
Isabella Blow
Two men in conversation
Richard Young and Adrian Gill
A man speaks to a woman amongst a group of people
Frederick Forsyth
Three men pose for the camera
Lord Lichfield and Barry Lategan
A man holds a camera up towards the camera
Barry Lategan
Two men in conversation
Sandy Nairne and Lord Lichfield
A man and two women in conversation
Robin Muir, Diana Donovan and Jill Kennington
A man wearing a jacket and striped tie, and a bag over his shoulders
Two women, one in a silver wig
Koo Stark and friend
A man and a woman pose for the camera
Sir David and Lady Carina Frost
A woman and two men pose for the camera
Terry O'Neill, Larraine O'Neill and Nigel Havers
A man and a woman holding drinks smile for the camera
Trevor Leighton and Suzanna Wright