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PeterLeese
DepartmentofEnglish,GermanicandRomanceStudies
UniversityofCopenhagen,Denmark
Movingfromgraytoblack-and-white:asixtiespre-history
“Thefiftiesweregray,thesixtieswereblack-and-white.”Sosaidfashionand
celebrityphotographerDavidBailey.Hewasthinking,Ibelieve,ofthatmoment
atthebeginningofthe1960swhenhisowncareertookoffandhebegan
workingforVoguemagazineand,soonthereafter,whenhisworkwasnolonger
seenonlyinthesmudgyinkprintsintheDailyMail,butwasreproducedaswell
inplaceslikethenew,glossy,SundayTimescoloursupplementmagazine
(Harrison1998:71).Thiswasalsothetimewhendocumentarystyle“realist”
snapshotsweresupplantedbytheriseoffashionphotography;controlledstudio
surroundingsgavewaytolocationstreetscenes;static,classicalposeslostoutto
movementandenergy.Inthenew,instantworldofphotographyandfashion,
ageless,respectableladymodelsmorphedovernightintoaTwiggyoraJean
Shrimpton:intoanidentifiablyattractive,ordinaryteenagegirlwholivesjust
downtheroad.
WhatBaileyinvokedtoowasawidersetofchanges.Ariseofambition,
expectationandcelebrityinBritainbetween,roughly,1956and1963,anascent
inwhichhehadasignificantpart:theascentofglamour.Hisviewwasthatofan
insider,ofsorts.Oneofanelitecircleofyoungcelebrities–MickJagger,
Twiggy,DavidHockney–manyofwhomwerefromworkingclassback-
grounds,whobythemid-1960swerebeingcalledthe“newaristocracy”:the
kindofpeopleseeninSoho’sAdLibClub,whereRingoproposedtoMaureen
(Crosby1995:77-82).Outsidethisartisticcoterie,theBritish1960shadless
glitter.Nevertheless,Baileyandhiscontemporariesbecamesymbolsofthenew
socialfluidity,ofthechangingculturaltide.
Itwasthischange–asetofshiftingsocialconditionsandattendantwaysof
thinking–whichconstitutedthemovefromgraytoblack-and-white,which
smoothedtheascentoftheFabFour,andwhichmadepossibletheemergenceof
thenewpopscene.Ifnocreativeprocessorartifact–film,song,painting–can
bereducedtoitssurroundingcircumstances,allcreativeartistsneverthelessexist
withinawidersetofhistoricalcircumstances.Itistheparticularsetofcondi-
tionsexistentatanygiventimewhichcreateaself-reflexivemirrorforintellec-
tualandartisticpractice.
1956wasoneofthetippingpointsinpostwarBritishpoliticalandsocialhistory:
amomentwhenunspokendiscontentsweresuddenlygivenvoice;whenunder-
