Mick Jagger, Madonna and Tony Curtis by Dafydd Jones, 1997
Poor Mick. He does not look pleased with the way the evening is turning out.
from Vanity Fair Portraits: photographs 1913-2008
seen at Nag on the Lake
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Mick Jagger, Madonna and Tony Curtis
11 comments:
This photographer Dafydd Jones is a genius. The picture is so much better than most celebrity party pics. There a whole story there of an ironic miserable moment for Mick.
Greetings, anonymous,
I am always mystified by how great photographers capture a moment that 99.9% would not.
One can read a lot in this photo, but it also makes me curious about the details.
I have very little interest in the personal lives of celebrities, but this image piques it.
ahh ha! I searched specially for this image as i saw it in this weekend's newspaper Telegraph Review section promoting the new Vanity Fair coffee table book :)
It is part of the Vanity Fair photos that celebrating the magazine's 25th anniversary and funnily enough there is a story that goes with this picture! It was taken in 1997 an Academy Awards afterparty somewhere in LA. Jones comments that the artist David Hockney was to Jagger's left, out of the frame & that Madge is inspecting Tony's Legion D'honneur medal the French government gave him! (I have no idea why, perhaps because he is such a great actor).
Jones also very interestingly & insightfully says, "I remember dancing with madonna that night. I brought in a dance band from Havana to liven things up, even though most people in LA don't dance. They talk, because if you're dancing, you're not making any money...."
ps. that post wasn't a reply from Anon. It was me being confused by the blogosphere!
Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth! Thanks for that!
Perhaps this photo takes the scene out of context a bit, then.
Maybe he's just bored with Hockney!
This picture is brilliant. Dafydd Jones gave an interview about it some years ago. It was taken at the Vanity Fair Oscar party by Jones on assignment for the magazine. Originally they didn't publish the picture. He was so disappointed he resigned a few months later. -But the picture has lived on as an iconic party picture and now is in the Vanity Fair portrait exhibition currently touring the world.
Thanks, Anon.!
The pieces are coming together.
Check Elizabeth's comment for more details.
I think being black and white makes this image stronger. Its has a strong graphic and reminds me of a caricature or cartoon drawing. - The fact it is real life makes it funnier.
Hi Sarah, welcome!
The body language really says a lot, too.
We are overwhelmed with millions of celebrity images most of which are forgettable. My theory is that the whole celebrity era is going to die a slow death. Vanity Fair in the U.S. will struggle to survive. - I think if they can raise themselves above pandering to celebrities and promote serious photographers maybe people will still want to read the magazine. - Dave
Popular culture and the celebrity mythology was different back then. These items were more rare and precious in those days. Today we live in a world of over-saturation, in that regards, and celebrity worship has become a hollow mockery of what it once was.
The fact that I am still getting comments on this post nearly six months later raises some interesting questions...
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