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| Quentin Crisp, Chelsea, London 1975 © Edward Barber |
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| Quentin Crisp, Chelsea, London 1975 © Edward Barber |
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| Quentin Crisp, Chelsea, London 1975 © Edward Barber |
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| The Naked Civil Servant, Quentin Crisp, Fontana |
It all started in Islington. Back in 1975. I was dispatched to the Kings Head Theatre Club in Upper Street. Lunchtime. A one-man show. Quentin Crisp was the man.
I was 26 years old. A mature student on the BA Photographic Arts course at the Polytechnic of Central London. At the time this was the only degree level photography course in Europe.Now there are hundreds.
My investigation into gender, identity and personality expression was the final part of my major project. I later photographed members of the Beaumont Society. An all male membership. A spectrum from drag artists and transvestites to transsexuals living as women and working their way towards sex change surgery.
Quentin Crisp was the starting point for this inquiry. I was granted permission to shoot performance pictures at one of his lunchtime sessions, but I was far more interested in a proper formal portrait session with Mr Crisp - in his by now "infamous" bedsit in Chelsea, London (many years before he moved to the Chelsea Hotel in New York and Sting wrote the song 'An Englishman in New York' about him.
I mailed some of the black and white prints to Quentin and asked if I might shoot a portrait of him at home. A typically gracious letter arrived by return. Delighted with these prints, he would be happy to sit for me.
At the time I was an absolute purist when it came to lighting and all other matters technical. My approach was knowingly primitive and driven mainly by an interest in the subject matter. My preference back then was for window light and if all else failed I would improvise with whatever light was available or any source I could get my hands on!
Many years later I discovered the joys of carrying huge quantities of moving lighting and plate cameras and working with an entire shoot team. On this occasion I arrived with nothing more than a 35mm camera, wide angle lens, a tripod and some Kodachrome film, renowned for its wonderful colour rendering and slow response to light.
I had heard and read a lot about this room. Situated in a house full of bedsits, somewhere in Chelsea between the Kings Road and Fulham Road. I had done some sketchy research, but I have to admit, I had not read Quentin's The Naked Civil Servant, published seven years earlier. Had I done so I would have known just how much experience Quentin already had as a life class model and his ability to hold a pose for even the longest exposure.
Once in the room, I was aware that it was everything and more than I had expected. How to make sense of such an intense environment - full of disused TV sets and dusty still-life scenes. Telephone directories piled on the mantle shelf and propping up the bed. wardrobes and meat safes side by side. Travel trunks and blankets. A highly idiosyncratic place. A photographer's dream - and that's before you put the man himself in the frame. The chiaroscuro lighting amplified Quentin's stately presence.
Could I extract just one iconic image from this place? Perhaps. Quentin made it all so easy. He could strike a pose and hold it for as long as necessary. Like all good actors and models he could take direction.
I hedged my bets and shot three different perspectives. Quentin approved them all and promptly sent me off to show Mike Dempsey, the art director at Collins the publishers. They were looking for a cover image for the soon to be published paperback version of The Naked Civil Servant. Mike took an instant liking to the portraits and this book cover became my first ever published image. Now it's in the National Portrait Gallery collection here in London.
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