logo

Boyd may have learnt about photography before the lenses of the classic 1960s portraitists but

Posted by admin   ·     ·   Jump to comments

Boyd may have learnt about photography before the lenses of the classic 1960s portraitists, but her own work aspires to the ingenuous quality of Doisneau or Cartier-Bresson."None of the photos are 'staged' as such," she says. "I just snapped when I thought the time or the light was right. There's a barefoot George, John and Paul, hanging out and zoning out; Eric, doggedly plucking at his guitar or posing in what looks like a Bentley/ T42 tank hybrid; mellow Indian and Caribbean landscapes, with passing natives and kneeling camels; and Patti herself, looking like Gwyneth Paltrow's guileless younger sister. Now, an exhibition of some 50 of her photographs is due to open at London's Proud Galleries, and provides an intimate look at some epoch-making lives and times, seen through the eyes of an ultimate insider. They married two years later, and Boyd was with Clapton through his alcohol and heroin addiction, before they split at the end of the 1980s. The two are still friends; Boyd also remained close to Harrison until his death in 2001.Boyd has documented these happenings with what she calls "my little snaps" since the late 1960s. The two were wed in 1966, in matching Mary Quant fur coats, and it was Boyd, and her growing interest in Eastern philosophy, that inspired The Beatles' subsequent exploration of transcendental meditation and 1968 visit to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Indian ashram.Harrison and Boyd divorced in 1977, blaming "divergent interests", and Eric Clapton, who had long carried a torch for Boyd - his "Layla" the ultimate paean to their unrequited love - stepped in.

When Lester went on to helm The Beatles' movie A Hard Day's Night, he cast her in less-a-cameo-more-a-miniature-role; however, her one line - "Are they looking for prisoners?" - was delivered in a schoolgirl's outfit, which brought her to the attention of George Harrison. "I mean," she continues, widening her eyes, "I've been very lucky. I seem to have had a gift for landing in the right place at the right time."Boyd was one of the original 1960s "It Girls" - a cross between Kate Moss and Nicole Richie without the attendant substance abuse or dietetic drama. Embarking on a modelling career in her late teens, and serially shot by the likes of masters she refers to as "Bailey and Donovan", she was hired by director Dick Lester to star in promotional campaigns as the "Smith's Crisp Girl". Then it strikes you: this is the no-way-is-she-62-year-old woman for whom three of rock's most enduring devotional tributes - The Beatles' "Something", Derek & The Dominoes' "Layla", and Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" - were written. She's passed into pop-culture legend. "I have led an exceptional life in some ways, yes," she says in clear, measured tones as we settle under an arbour.

And Boyd herself - well, there's something in the way she moves. As she alights from her black Saab (she's just returned from a Pilates class) you're struck by her limber physique, her rock-grand-dame outfit - all layered-black and insouciantly knotted neckwear - and her cascade of mussed-up blonde hair. A stone Buddha gazes serenely across the lawn toward the distant South Downs, while another plays peek-a-boo through a nook in a box-hedge. Snapshots of rock royalty - George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Wood, even Kate Moss - are displayed in the downstairs loo. But look more closely and clues to a more singular life emerge.

readers comments

Comments are closed.

NBA

NBA

MLB

MLB

NFL

NFL

NHL

NHL

WWE

WWE

Your sideblock text goes here