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Ara Gallant Hardcover – Illustrated, April 30, 2010

by David Wills (Editor, Contributor), Ara Gallant (Artist), Anjelica Huston (Foreword)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 11 ratings
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He was born Ira Gallantz in 1932 in the Bronx, but later changed his name to the more exotic-sounding Ara Gallant―and the life he led was indeed an exotic one. Gallant began his professional career in fashion as a hairdresser, working at Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York as one of the city's top colorists. In the mid-1960s, he was approached by Vogue and began to work exclusively on photo assignments, the first hair stylist to be paid to fulfill such a role. Gallant went on to work with many of the great fashion photographers of the period, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn and Bert Stern among them. Perhaps his most notable contribution as a stylist was the introduction of “flying hair,” an effect he first used on an Avedon shoot with iconic model Twiggy in 1966, and which is still widely employed today. By the early 1970s, Gallant had begun shooting his own pictures, his first assignment being a set of celebrity portraits for Interview magazine. His work often juxtaposed classic Horst-like compositions with contemporary scenarios. In the early 1980s, Gallant moved to Los Angeles to pursue a directing career, which never happened; in 1990, he committed suicide in a Las Vegas hotel room. This new book tracing Gallant's life and career is edited by David Wills and features photographs by Richard Avedon plus a foreword by Anjelica Huston.
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  1. Print length
    220 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Damiani
  4. Publication date
    April 30, 2010
  5. Dimensions
    9.82 x 0.9 x 12.28 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    8862081200
  7. ISBN-13
    978-8862081207
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

When it comes to glamour, the 1970s can be distilled into a few simple highlights: dangerously red lips, after-hours glitter, and really, really big hair. The man largely responsible for it all is Ara Gallant―the hairstylist turned photographer whose work filled the pages of Vogue and Interview from the late '60s to early '80s. -- Isabel Wilkinson ― The Daily Beast

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

"The first time that I remember being in the presence of Ara Gallant was in Richard Avedon's studio on 75th Street in New York City, circa 1971. We were in the middle of a photo shoot with Dick, and Polly Mellen was the fashion editor and Ara was "doing hair." Ara was never a hairdresser; his talent didn't fit into the normal concept of what hairdressing might be--Ara always 'did hair'--and suddenly Ara's hands came alive and he started attaching yards of vinyl braid to my head with swift, deft fingers.
Ara had a very sure touch. We were perusing images of handsome young men of the moment (one of them was James Taylor, but we didn't choose him because we hadn't heard his music yet) whom Dick had thought might be a potentially good pairing for me on an upcoming shoot for Vogue in Connemara, in the heart of the Emerald Isle. Ara had just confessed his deep and abiding hatred for the color green, he said he wouldn't even drive a green car if you paid him, and we were laughing so hard that I barely noticed that he had plucked my eyebrows into a whisper of a line, half way up my forehead--I was aghast, but said nothing.
Ara was subversive like that; he would perform tricks when you weren't looking, and the results were often worrisome, if generally very glamorous: with Ara, it was not so much about hair and much more about the creation of a fantasy…"

--Anjelica Huston, excerpted from her Introduction to Ara Galant.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Damiani; Illustrated edition (April 30, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 220 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 8862081200
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-8862081207
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.93 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.82 x 0.9 x 12.28 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

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  1. David Wills

    David Wills

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    Australian-born David Wills is an author, independent curator, photographic preservationist, and photo editor who has accrued one of the world’s largest independent archives of original photographs, negatives, and transparencies.

    Wills's books include ARA GALLANT (2010, introduction by Anjelica Huston); MARILYN MONROE: METAMORPHOSIS (2011); AUDREY: THE 60s (2012); HOLLYWOOD IN KODACHROME (2013, foreword by Rhonda Fleming); SEVENTIES GLAMOUR (2014, foreword by Paul Morrissey); MARILYN: IN THE FLASH (2015, foreword by Robert Wagner); THE CINEMATIC LEGACY OF FRANK SINATRA (2016, contributing essays by Nancy Sinatra, Tina Sinatra, and Frank Sinatra, Jr.); AUDREY: THE 50s (2016); SWITCHED ON: WOMEN WHO REVOLUTIONIZED STYLE IN THE 60s (2017, foreword by Betsey Johnson, afterword by Dame Mary Quant); VEGAS GOLD (2017, foreword by Wayne Newton, afterwords by Donny Osmond and Marie Osmond); and HOLLYWOOD BEACH BEAUTIES (2018). He is also the coauthor of VERUSCHKA (2008).

    Wills has produced a series of photography exhibitions based on images from his archive, including Murder, Models, Madness: Photographs from the Motion Picture "Blow-Up"; and Warhology. He has contributed material to many publications and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Palm Springs Art Museum, the Phoenix Art Museum, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

    His books and exhibitions have received major profiles in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, American Photo, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Interview, and Time. He has also written articles on photography and popular culture for publications including the Huffington Post, V Magazine, and Palm Springs Life.

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  2. David Wills

    David Wills

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Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
11 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Robert Jason
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful book. we met Ara many years ago in ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2015
Verified Purchase
Beautiful book. we met Ara many years ago in Los Angeles. He was unique, for sure.
The book was HARD COVER, not paperback, a bonus. Highly recommended!
2 people found this helpful
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La Brea Books
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2014
Verified Purchase
The Best Book!
One person found this helpful
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J. Srebro
3.0 out of 5 stars MEDIOCRITY AT BEST
Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2012
Verified Purchase
Wow. I was so excited to buy this book, solely due to the fact that I had been hearing about the legendary Ira Gallantz through my family for years because my father was his first cousin and they were extremely close. I purchased this book for my father, and although he wept from pride upon viewing it, a keener, less nostalgic evaluation would conclude that this book is both inaccurate and leaves much to be desired. In addition, there are typos in this book, as if there was no concern to simply proofread a book that, in actuality, has a very limited amount of text. There is no doubt that his career earned him endless posthumous praise. However, this book was a disappointment at best. I am not speaking as a novice. I have a B.A. in English (cum laude), but I don't think these credentials are necessary to recognize poorly written mediocrity. My impression of this book, however unfortunate, is that it was produced for the sole purpose of profit, not to pay the much-deserved homage to an extremely talented individual who forever changed the world of fashion and aestheticism in every possible sense. As a result of my disappointment, and as a result of my being an individual with a literary background who does, in fact, take pride in the meticulous nature that is essential in producing quality literary material, I have very seriously contemplated producing material that would pay Ira Gallantz the homage that he truly earned and truly deserved. A compilation of extraordinary photographs of which the author is in no way associated with creating and a limited amount of arbitrary quotations peppered between them does not a masterpiece, nor a book make. The previous review gave this book five stars? I'm not really sure how to comment on that description while still maintaining my professionalism.
Sincerely,
Jesse Lee Srebro
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DFR
5.0 out of 5 stars So glad Ara has been remembered.......
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2014
Ara Gallant was an inspiration to so many in the beauty and fashion industry. And yet, you don't hear much about his genius anymore. I'm so glad David Wills had the interest to immortalize ARA with this beautiful book. It is meant to be a coffee table book filled with photos and quotes by people that knew him, along with some of the stories of the glamourous life that ended so sadly.
3 people found this helpful
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M.B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully done book--MB
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2011
David Wills has done a great job with this book, available through Amazon, as, the subject was my best friend for over 15 years. It captures the feeling of the 'glamorous life' of one of the most influential stylists of the 60's and 70's. Behind the scenes he invented whole looks and trends for upscale publications such as Vogue, etc. as well as influencing the commercial works of most of the biggest fashion photographers in NYC. at the time. Later, when he tried his hand at photography, he produced some of the most stunning and slightly shocking fashion photos of all time. Kudos, David--MB
4 people found this helpful
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