Salerooms
With an eye for beauty
Alistair McAlpine on the late Terence Donovan, whose camera collection is coming up for sale
Terence Donovan was a perfectionist. He believed that it was single mindedness that led to his success as a photographer. 'You don't do something like this for money,' he said, and then added, 'I've never met anyone who's succeeded in life purely because they wanted the cash.'
Terence Donovan, who died last Novem- ber, never believed in leaving anything to chance. Many years ago in Paris, he and David Bailey worked out the 480 things that can go wrong before the final print is attained. He believed in back up, but own- ing the best part of 100 cameras and as many different lenses does seem a trifle excessive. In truth, Terence was fascinated by cameras: how they looked, how they felt in his hand and, more importantly, how they worked. His collection is coming up for sale at Christie's, South Kensington, on Thursday, 12 June.
Terence Donovan was first and foremost a technician. His idea of a wonderful evening was to sit alone taking a camera apart, examining each piece and then putting it back together again. He was pas- sionate about his cameras and required his assistants to handle them 'as if they were the finest and most precious gems'. He hated his assistants wearing clumsy shoes because he could not bear them tripping over his equipment. Should some wretched assistant do this, the mild-mannered Ter- ence Donovan gave forth a stream of vile language.
He would often say to me that he had the best possible job — 'after all, I spend all day looking down a lens at some of the world's most beautiful women'. His respect for beauty was immense, his contempt for models who did not measure up to his pro- fessional standards equalled it. Many a lacklustre model would watch amazed as Terence took a £50 note from his pocket and held it in front of the camera's lens — just to remind them why they were posing. He did this when photographing the Princess of Wales, saying at the same time, 'Recognise the relative?'
Terence Donovan's cameras were to him, a skilled photographer, instruments of great beauty. To me, a man in whose hand even a scalpel would be more at home than a camera, they are objects of art. Looking through the Christie's catalogue, I came upon two lots that seemed to me visually outstanding, lots 76 and 78, both cameras made by the Gandolfi brothers. I was not surprised to find that they were Terence's favourite cameras.
Knowing little of the techniques of pho- tography, I was, however, fascinated by the names of the cameras in his collection. The Triple Victo field cameras, the Special Ruby Reflex SLR camera and the Ensign Sanderson Tropical model, all seem to me names filled with romance. And the shape of these cameras, for instance the R.B. Super D Graflex SLR, lot 10, looks just how I have always imagined a camera should look.
Although he was an extremely large man, Terence was never violent, even though as a judo black belt he had the expertise for violence. I do recall, however, him once asking a man who persisted in interrupting his thoughts, 'Do you like hospital food?' The man looked perplexed but was soon enlightened. Terence explained that unless he left us in peace and quiet an unimagin- able level of violence was about to occur, the result of which would mean that his meals for the foreseeable future would be served in a hospital.
Often, as we strolled together in Venice, Terence delicately held in his large hands a small Leica camera. There are four Leicas in this sale. When he took a photograph, he did not squint through one eye and then the other. He merely lifted the camera in one hand and pointed it in the general direction of his subject. The result of this casual action was invariably wonderful.
A man with outstanding powers of obser- vation, he is most famous for his fashion photographs, while it was at reportage that he really excelled. He was a generous man with advice, and if I had suggested that I might take up photography, he would have replied, 'Go for it. Buy a Canon — the Canon is the camera for the oil-well owner.' There are five Canons and ten Canon lenses in this sale. Perhaps he might realise it's 'casual wear day,' Hendricks, but what's so casual about five inch stiletto heels?' recommend the Olympus, saying that the photographer Duffy called that camera 'a wonderful piece of male jewellery', adding that 'the Olympus has the best metering system of any camera. Good all-round lens- es, unless you have to photograph a black cat in a coal cellar with the lights out and the door shut.' There are two cameras by Olympus in this sale.
'Don't buy a Hasselblad unless you have a tripod and an assistant. If you drop the magazine, it tends to be embarrassing, like trying to spoon up your guacamole in Aca- pulco. When I see a Hampstead gynaecolo- gist on holiday festooned with a Hasselblad and lenses and no tripod, I know he is a photographer wankcuer,' a word that he claimed was taken from the French. There are no Hasselblads in Terence Donovan's collection.
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