A portrait of the Queen, John Lennon riding a bike in a pool and Geri Halliwell posing naked in the forest: Notorious paparazzo Darryn Lyons’s never-before-seen celebrity images come to light
- Darryn Lyons will open a high-end photo gallery in Paddington, Sydney, midway through next month
- The gallery will feature rare and some never-before-seen photographs of celebrities and royals
- Mr Lyons says his favourite is a 3D portrait of the Queen. Another is a photo of Raquel Welsh on a crucifix
- The former mayor of Geelong says a good image should ‘tell a thousand words’ and all pictures will be for sale
- Some of the works will be on public display for the first time ever, while others will be new to Australia
A new art gallery in Sydney has promised to show iconic celebrities and royals as they’ve never been seen before.
Images of Princess Margaret in a bath, Faye Dunaway reading the papers by the pool with her Oscar, and Geri Halliwell posing nude in a lush green forest will soon be on display for Sydneysiders to see and buy.
Lyons Gallery, owned by former Geelong Mayor and war zone photographer turned UK paparazzo Darryn Lyons, will open to the public on November 16.
Despite his clear loyalty to Victoria, the gallery will open in Paddington, nearby Sydney’s famed Oxford Street because it was there he found ‘the best curator in Australia,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
A never-before seen image of John Lennon riding a bike in a pool at a party in Los Angeles (pictured) will be one of many rare items on sale at Darryn Lyons’ new gallery
Included in the collection is an intimate photo of Princess Margaret taking a bath, taken by her husband
Pictures of Marilyn Monroe, both on set and behind the scenes, will be available for purchase
His curator, Sandra Schnellhaus-Stephen, was reluctant to leave the city, he said, and then his ‘Chanel gallery’ became available.
‘I now have people who share the same passion as mine who are there on a full time basis while I run around the world and buy art,’ he said.
A terrace at the five-ways in Paddington was put up for sale, and Lyons says it is there he wanted his dream to come to life. The property was only on the market for three days before he made the purchase, he said.
While the gallery will open first in Sydney, Lyons has nationwide – and then international – plans for his passion project.
‘I want to expand to every capital city in Australia,’ he said. ‘Then I’ll look at moving it to New York, Paris and London.’
Everything in the gallery, which will include pictures by Terry O’Neill and Eve Arnold, as well as some images from Lyons’s private collection, will be up for sale.
Some of the images will have been put on display for the first time ever, others for the first time in Australia, and most are incredibly rare.
Chris Levine’s Lightness of Being – a 3D image of the Queen, is one of Darryn Lyons’ favourites
Marilyn Monroe makes multiple appearances in the Sydney-based gallery
This shot of David Bowie dressed in a mustard suit with dyed red hair was used in a magazine, circa 1974
Included in the collection is an Andy Warhol piece and a bronze sculpture of a woman bending over – the same one he loaned to the Geelong Gallery during his time as mayor for an exhibition of his favourite works.
Though he adores the sculpture, he says it’s photos he loves the most.
‘For me, [photography is] so special, but I have so many pictures I can’t display them all. I don’t have enough walls, and I’d love for someone else to experience that joy.’
Lyons says high-end art and photography is a solid investment that’s ‘only going north’ and believes it’s a better long-term purchase than a house.
-
A playful pride of lions and the incredible power of an…
Soldiers from both world wars and even the Boer war laugh,…
Jackie Kennedy as you’ve never seen her: Family friend sells…
Share this article
Stars such as John Lennon, Frank Sinatra and David Bowie will grace the walls of the former mayor’s new gallery, with Mr Lyons using contacts he made while working as a paparazzo in the UK to amass an incredible collection of both private and well-known images.
A photograph of Beatles star John Lennon trying to ride a bicycle through a pool at a private party in Los Angeles will be showcased for the first time ever, while other stars will have intimate portraits of them shown to the public, and put up for sale, for the first time.
One of these is former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, who posed naked in a UK forest in 1996.
Naked portraits of Geri Halliwell have done the rounds online before, but official prints have never been put on display
The former Spice Girl is seen posing in a forest in the UK in the early 1990’s
The images are believed to have been taken before the Spice Girls reached international dominance
Another steamy shot, taken by Helmut Newton, shows American actress and singer Raquel Welch in a metallic one-piece holding a large dog on a chain leash
Singer and actor Frank Sinatra, with his minders and his stand in (who is wearing an identical outfit to him), arriving at Miami beach while filming ‘The Lady in Cement’ in 1968
The images of Ms Halliwell, who is seen lying on the grass and posing among the trees with a crown of flowers in her hair, have circulated online previously, but have never been properly displayed before.
Darryn Lyons, former paparazzo and former mayor of Geelong, says the gallery is a passion project for him and he’s excited to share his deep love of photography with Australians
Another particularly remarkable print shows a beaming, 32-year-old Princess Margaret sitting in a bathtub in Kensington Palace, her hair coiffed into a bee-hive style with a tiara perched neatly around it.
Her husband Anthony Armstrong-Jones took the photograph in 1962. It was first displayed in 2006, and will be shown off for the first time in Australia.
Like many of the images to be shown in Lyons Gallery, there is a fantastic story behind how it came to be in Mr Lyons’s possession.
‘It’s a divorce piece,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘My art dealer said: “I have to move it pretty quickly or it will get smashed in the divorce at home”. He said to me, “the divorcee has just used every bottle of grange in a spaghetti, like 100 bottles”.’
The iconic images of David Bowie wearing a red and blue lightning bolt on his face will be up for sale, as well as a picture of the Space Oddity star smoking a cigarette in a yellow suit.
Another image showing the superstar sitting on a chair holding a large barking dog will be on offer, as will a picture of Elton John, taken from backstage when he performed at Dodger Stadium in a sequinned replica of the team’s uniform in 1975.
Elton John is seen from backstage at Dodger Stadium in 1975, where he performed in a sequinned replica of the baseball team’s uniform
David Bowie and Elizabeth Taylor are seen posing together, in another high-value celebrity shot – something gallery owner Darryn Lyons believes is currently a better investment than a house
The late Amy Winehouse also makes a number of appearances. In this candid shot, her colourful tattoos are on full display
This Raquel Welsh shot is hung on Kylie Kardashian’s staircase, and is said to be above Justin Timberlake’s bed
Amy Winehouse and Mick Jagger will feature in the gallery, and Marilyn Monroe is seen in both private and professional settings.
An intimate moment with Faye Dunaway, showing her surrounded by newspapers and looking displeased as she sits by the pool at the Beverly Hills Hotel on March 29, 1977, will also be on the walls of the gallery.
Her then husband, acclaimed photographer Terry O’Neill, took the photo.
The Best Actress Oscar she won the night before for her leading role in ‘Network’ is seen sitting proudly on the table in front of her, though the star seems less than impressed by it.
Mr Lyons says both Dunaway and O’Neill have signed the image, making it the only one in Australia.
Then there is the iconic image of Raquel Welsh hanging on a crucifix.
The image, which sits at the top of Khloe Kardashian’s staircase and, according to Mr Lyons, above Justin Timberlake’s bed, is one of the art-fanatic’s favourites.
This image of Faye Dunaway the night after she won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role was taken by Mr O’Neill, who was at the time her husband
Another Terry O’Neill picture, taken in 1963, shows Mick Jagger wrapped in a large fur coat
Elton John is seen in a white jacket with feathers on the shoulder, posing for Terry O’Neill, at his home in 1974
Of all the incredible art he’s amassed over more than two decades of collecting, Mr Lyons says Chris Levine’s lightness of being – a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, is his favourite.
‘Not only do I love it because it’s an incredible 3D image, but it was one of the Queen’s favourite images at her centenary,’ he said.
‘It jumps out at you and it’s an extraordinary image where she’s shut her eyes for just a moment.
‘Even though I’m a republican, to me she’s been an incredible Queen. You look into the picture and you can tell she’s done an incredible amount of work in her time.
‘[The photograph] tells a thousand words, as a great image should. There’s only three in the world.’
Lyons Gallery, located at 248 Glenmore Road, Paddington, will open to the public on November 16.
An old photograph of Sir Paul McCartney (pictured) will also be up for sale when the gallery opens next month
An Iconic photograph of Breakfast at Tiffany’s star Audrey Hepburn will also be on display and up for sale at the Paddington gallery
David Bowie is seen posing with a large dog while working on the artwork for his 1974 album ‘Diamond Dogs’ in London. The image is just one of many taken by photographer Terry O’Neill, and Mr Lyons says many of these are signed by either the picture’s subject, O’Neill or both
Source: Read Full Article