Beatles to Bowie

By Maddalena Dottori
29/10/2009

Beatles to Bowie: The 60s Exposed, National Portrait GalleryBy Maddalena DottoriA visit at the Beatles to Bowie: The 60s Exposed exhibtion will be like travelling on a time machine.From October 16 to January 24, National Portrait Gallery visitors will have the unique opportunity to look back on the world of the swinging 60s music scene through an extraordinary collection of more than 150 images. Dividing the exhibition space into 10 major sections - one for each year - curator Terence Pepper did an amazing job in gathering together previously unseen photographs with classic, iconic images of the personalities who helped put Britain on the world music map for the first time. Every section/year is introduced by an explicative presentation and features a window display with original record sleeves, fan magazines and illustrated sheet music.As it is easily expected, pictures of Beatles and Rolling Stones are heavily featured in this exhibit celebrating the British creative talent that has influenced and inspired music, fashion and popular culture for almost 50 yearsThe show starts with 1960. In that year pop music was born, as Britain finally emerged from the post-war austerity typical of the preceding decade. A series of images  portraying some of the early 60s chart-toppers perfectly illustrates what style and glamour was all about back then . Cliff Richards, Adam Faith and Petula Clark were the kings and queens of the popular music scene and photographers like  David Bailey, Brian Duffy,  Tom Blau and Terence Donovan managed to perfectly capture the essence and fervour of that thriving new era.In 1962, a new Liverpudlian band, known as the Beatles, burst on the pop music arena changing it forever. A young German photographer, Astrid Kichherr, is the author of the first publicity photographs of the group. She is also said to be have been instrumental in shaping the Fab Four's trademark outfits and moptop haicuts. Visitors will have the chance to view a selection of those images, alongside some shots of other bands of the time, such as The Kinks and The Springfields.In the next few years the essential rivalry between the Beatles and their darker counterparts, the Rolling Stones, is recreated in the exhibit by showcasing a series of images by brilliant photographers such as Fiona Adams, who has never been credited for the famous picture of the 'Twist and Shout'  Beatles EP, and Peter Townsend, author of the first Stones' promotional photos,  in particular the one taken at the Chelsea Embankment in 1963.A retrospective of the swinging 60s would not have been complete without the quintessential  groupie Marianne Faithful, singer and - most famously - one time Mick Jagger's girlfriend. We can see her here, amongst other photos, in an iconic image taken in a Salisbury pub in 1964 by Gered Mankowitz, who will later become  one of the Stones' official photographers.Society dramatically changed in 1967, and so did the music scene, when pop, 'fluffy' music gave in to experimental psychedelic rock. Longer hair and more unconventional and colourful outfits replaced the clean-cut style of the previous years. All this is documented by photos of the trend-setters of the time, the Who, Pink Floyd, David Bowie and American Jimy Hendrix, alongside the omnipresent Beatles (plus Yoko) and Rolling Stones. Notable photographs of this last part of the decade were taken by Robert Whitaker, Cecil Beaton and Mrs Linda McCartney.Moreover, a display of fashion mannequins from Adel Rootstein comprise striking life-size images of a selection of 60s supermodels, such as Twiggy and Jane Shripton.This excellent exhibition has only one flaw: it is too formal. Too many publicity and posed images should have left space to more candid and intimate shots.