TERRY O'NEILL
One of the twentieth century's most accomplished and collected photographers, Terry O'Neill chronicled the frontline of fame, during the swinging sixties
BIO
Terry O'Neill (1938 - 2019) was a British photographer, known for documenting the fashions, styles, and celebrities of the 1960s. O'Neill's photographs capture his subjects candidly or in unconventional settings.
He began his photographic career working for a photographic unit for an airline at London's Heathrow Airport. O'Neill found further employment on Fleet Street withThe Daily Sketchin 1959. Terry O’Neill began his career at the birth of the 1960s. While other photographers concentrated on earthquakes, wars and politics, Terry O’Neill realised that youth culture was a breaking news story on a global scale and began chronicling the emerging faces of film, fashion and music who would go on to define the Swinging Sixties.
During the 1960s, in addition to photographing contemporary celebrities such as Judy Garland, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, he also photographed members of the British royal family and prominent politicians, showing a more human side to these subjects than had usually been portrayed. O'Neill's photographs of Elton John are among his best known. By 1965, he was being commissioned by the biggest magazines and newspapers in the world.
His work has been featured in numerous exhibitions. O'Neill was awarded an honorary fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 2004 and the society's Centenary Medal in 2011. His work is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Frank Sinatra, Miami Boardwalk, 1968
Photograph
Life magazine had commissioned Mr Life magazine had commissioned Mr O’Neill to create a photographic story ─ “Night And Day With Frank Sinatra” ─ following the singer while he was shooting the Mr Tony Rome movie Lady In Cement. But it hadn’t parlayed a single minute of access to Ol’ Blue Eyes. Mr O’Neill, being the well-connected type, asked his friend Ms Ava Gardner to write her ex-husband Mr Sinatra a letter of introduction. So, there’s Mr O’Neill, sitting on a lounger in the Miami sun, letter in hand, when Mr Sinatra and his security detail come clattering down the wooden deck. “I saw him walking round the corner and I just thought, ‘Click!’” says Mr O’Neill. “As soon as I’d taken the picture, I thought, my God! What I have gotten into here?
“Keep your eyes open and your camera ready. The best moments, the best images are always going to be the ones you don’t plan in advance...that’s my advice. You don’t always have to create the moment, sometimes the moment creates you.”
CV
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
Terry O'neill I Selected Works, SmithDavidson Gallery
2022
Terry O'Neill, Canvas Gallery
Terry O'Neill: Life in Pictures, Gefen Gallery
Terry O'Neill: Retrospective, OSME Fine Art
2021
Terry O’Neill, Canvas Gallery
2020
SEAN CONNERY - Legendary photos by Terry O'Neill, OSME Fine Art
Terry O'Neill - A Retrospective, Petra Gut Contemporary
Terry O'Neill: 'Every Picture Tells A Story', A Retrospective, Maddox Gallery
TERRY O'NEILL - A tribute to one of Britains greatest photographers!, OSME Fine Art
Terry O'Neill | "A Tribute to Terry O'Neill", Eduard Planting Gallery | Fine Art Photographs
GROUP SHOWS
2022
Carousel, Atlas Gallery
The Entertainer – Living Large for the Camera, Holden Luntz Gallery
STYLE: Photography of Life and Fashion, Atlas Gallery
2021
Movies Made America, Holden Luntz Gallery
Artful Giving, Preiss Fine Arts
The 21st Century Handmade Print 2021: Hush, Gallery 270
2020
PAN in perspective extended, Eduard Planting Gallery | Fine Art Photographs
HERE AND NOW, HOFA Gallery (House of Fine Art)
2018
Capturing Culture, Holden Luntz Gallery
ART FAIRS
2023
Holden Luntz Gallery at Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary 2023, Holden Luntz Gallery
2022
Holden Luntz Gallery at Art Miami - 2022, Holden Luntz Gallery
The Selects Gallery at Hamptons Fine Art Fair 2022, The Selects Gallery
Isabella Garrucho Fine Art at Hamptons Fine Art Fair 2022, Trimper Gallery