Contacts

Burt Glinn Twiggy, 1966

In our series delving into the contact sheets of famous photographers, we revisit a memorable shoot with the Sixties icon, who was then just 16

Words by Alex Moore

In 1947, the year when Capa, Cartier-Bresson, Chim et al founded Magnum Photos, a 22-year-old Burt Glinn was studying literature at Harvard University. He’d spent the previous three years serving in the United States Army, but found his calling while taking photographs for the Harvard Crimson college newspaper. He had a natural talent.

In 1949-50 Glinn shot for Life magazine, and the following year he became one of Magnum’s first American members. (He later became the company’s president, twice.) Over the next decade he established a reputation as one of the leading photographers of his generation with vivid photo essays from the South Seas, Japan, Russia, Mexico and, perhaps most notably, Cuba. According to Magnum, on New Year’s Eve 1958, Glinn was at a black-tie party in New York when he received the news that dictator Fulgencio Batista had fled Cuba. By the next morning he was in Havana in a taxi, declaring, “Take me to the revolution.”

Such gusto behind the lens made Glinn a favourite among the nascent breed of uber-celebrity during the 1960s. His portraits of Andy Warhol, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, Sammy Davis Jr and Liza Minnelli have become instantly recognisable, but none is quite as iconic as his 1966 monochrome study of a 16-year-old Lesley Hornby, better known as Twiggy.

“To be honest I don’t really remember this particular shoot – it must have been very early on in my career,” says the model and actress, who was made a dame in 2019 for her services to fashion, the arts and charity. “I was shooting almost every day, with different photographers. My guess is that it was a magazine interview – probably for an American magazine – concerning my sudden rise to fame.”

The contact sheet shows Twiggy, impish as ever, yawning, pouting and fidgeting. Glinn did capture a more formal, pensive portrait, but it was another puckish test shot that really captured our hearts – on both sides of the Atlantic.

“In the shot of me sticking my tongue out, I think I’d probably had enough and was mucking around,” Twiggy remembers. “I was only 16 and didn’t like sitting still for too long. It was such an exciting time for me. I’d gone from schoolgirl to world-famous model, travelling the globe and meeting amazing people.” magnumphotos.com.

BURT GLINN/MAGNUM PHOTOS