Biography
Early Life
Terence Donovan wan born September 14, 1936, in Stepney, in the East End of London. His mother was Lilian Constance V. and his father was Daniel Donovan. Even though he didn't have a full education, he says "I spent most of the war in the cab of a large lorry traveling round England with my father", his passion for photography began at a young age, as he became acquainted with his uncle's profession in lithography, and he was able to study at the London School of Photo Engraving from the ages of 11 to 15, according to the Terence Donovan Archive.
Career and Influences
At age fifteen, Terence Donovan became a photographer's assistant at Gee and Watson, after that he became photographer's assistant for Hugh White and Michael Williams. From 1954 to 1955 Donovan worked at the John French Studio. At the age of 22, he opened his first photographic studio in 1959. His skillfulness made the studio a success and attracted many clients, such as advertising agencies and fashion and lifestyle magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and others. He became more prominent in the early mid-1960's with the famous era of 'Swinging London'. David Bailey, Brian Duffy and Donovan "revolutionized the world of magazine and newspaper photography" according to the Terence Donovan Archive. He worked with Vogue from 1963 until his death in 1997. In the 1970s, Donovan concentrated more on advertising photography and movies. In 1973, he directed the feature film Yellow Dog. He also produced plays for the American CBS Network. In the 1980s, he was working on award winning television commercials and advertising campaigns, but he still kept shooting for fashion magazines and newspapers. He was nominated one of Vanity Fair magazine's 'People of the Decade' in 1989, for his music video 'Addicted To Love' by Robert Palmer. Part of his many commissions was for the Royal Family, specifically for Diana, Princess of Wales, until his suicide. Donovan was mainly influenced by Bill Brandt's documentary work and periodicals, in his photographs, according to the Terence Donovan Archive.
His career was definitely wide ranging, as published in the Terence Donovan Archive, "At one point he owned a chain of dress shops, a building contractors, a kitchen shop in Chelsea and part-owned a restaurant with the actor Terence Stamp", as well as a successful art show for his paintings, in 1992. He was given the position of visiting Professor of The Central St. Martin's School of Art in 1996. Donovan was also an author and published three books through out his career, Woman throoo the eyes of smudger of TD, Glances and Fighting Judo, according to the Terence Donovan Archive.
His career was definitely wide ranging, as published in the Terence Donovan Archive, "At one point he owned a chain of dress shops, a building contractors, a kitchen shop in Chelsea and part-owned a restaurant with the actor Terence Stamp", as well as a successful art show for his paintings, in 1992. He was given the position of visiting Professor of The Central St. Martin's School of Art in 1996. Donovan was also an author and published three books through out his career, Woman throoo the eyes of smudger of TD, Glances and Fighting Judo, according to the Terence Donovan Archive.
Techniques and Style
Donovan "brought a gritty realism to his magazine and advertising work", according to the Terence Donovan Archive. He mainly used realistic and rustic backdrops in London, such as his "bomb ravaged landscape", as published in the Terence Donovan Archive, of his hometown, which allowed his photographs to have "a tough emptiness, a grittiness heightened by occasional pieces of rubbish rustling around the wind", he remarked. His informal style and black and white pictures, both untypical at the time, set him apart. Donovan's prowess was still life, fashion and portraits, in studio and on location. He changed the way models posed for photographs and allowed them to pose as the average girls in the East End, and this "helped give magazines a new visual language of gestures and stance -- a working-class 'chic'", according to the Terence Donovan Archive. Donovan liked all types of cameras but preferred plate cameras, according to a 2012 feature by Grace Coddington in the Telegraph.
Influence on Society
Donovan was considered revolutionary in the 1960s, as he was "altering the way the world perceived women", as published in the 2012 feature by Grace Coddington in the Telegraph. He eliminated the perfect, glamorous woman of the 1950s and brought a fresh face and someone that was more relatable to women and men, according to a 2012 feature by Grace Coddington in the Telegraph. With this, he played a important role in the Swinging London era, and he was the inspiration for many photographers, as well as youth. With his photographs he facilitated the transition from the more conservative 1950s to the more youthful culture of the 1960s.