Patrick Lichfield

So much happened in the Sixties! It's hard to believe it was only a decade. Change was everywhere in England: in fashion, in music, in society and politics; and Patrick Lichfield was right in the middle of it all.

As the 5th Earl of Lichfield, he was born to the aristocracy; yet, he decided to lay aside his title and embrace a career as a photographer. What an unprecedented choice for a relative of the Queen! Surely, he divined the cultural transformations the Sixties would usher in. He threw his lot with the growing cultural meritocracy, and thereby embodied the spirit of the age: rejection of class boundaries coupled with the pursuit of artistic ambition, regardless of familial expectations.

Still, Patrick Lichfield used his upper class connections to good advantage. Throughout his career, his elite associations opened doors that remained closed to his rivals.

During the late Fifties, Lichfield perfected his photographic skills in the employ of two advertising photographers. By 1963 his career included opportunities that were to become the mainstay of his career: portraits of the aristocracy, including the Royal Family, and fashion models. His big break came in 1967 when Diana Vreeland sent him off to Paris to photograph the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. This shoot was so successful that Vreeland offered him a contract with American Vogue.

Lichfield’s portraits from the Sixties provide a record of the intersection of fashion and music that was a hallmark of the decade. Perhaps no photo expresses this better than “Swinging London”. Taken in 1967, the photo demonstrates the far flung reach of Lichfield’s network of connections with the most sought after figures in music, fashion, and art. In his famous nude portrait of the singer Marsha Hunt, Lichfield captured not only the beauty of his subject but also the “anything is possible” spirit of the age. Hunt had only 2 lines of dialogue in the musical, “Hair”, but the media attention she evoked from this performance catapulted her to fame. His colour portrait of Yves St. Laurent, the fashion designer, also of this decade, is a fashion statement in itself.

In his photos, Patrick Lichfield, aristocrat turned world renowned photographer, has left us an indelible impression of this decade of change and innovation.