Welcome to The Donald Silverstein Experience.
Jimi Hendrix Collection
Donald Silverstein’s sole session with Jimi Hendrix produced one of the most important and well known photographs of the incendiary guitarist.
London, 1967. Jimi Hendrix stands in front of a roll of ‘no-seam’ background paper in the Riding House Street studio of US-born, British-based photographer Donald Silverstein. Jimi’s star is firmly in the ascendency, with a first album released to critical acclaim earlier in the year.
The camera captured Hendrix’s huge hands, the tufted cords on his trousers, the oversized Mexican influenced medallion hanging on his chest, the richly detailed floral shirt and cufflinks, the rings and belts. This was Hendrix at the peak of his powers, confident in front of the camera, with just the right level of self assurance.
This is an incredibly important Jimi Hendrix photograph. “Iconic” is a very overused term, but in this instance it really is justified.
Biography
New York born Donald Silverstein (1934-75) started photographing early in life. Given a Rolleiflex camera by his mother at the age of 12, by 19 has was photographing for Glamour Magazine in the US and at 20 has was sent to London on a one year contract for English Vogue by renowned Art Director Alexander Lieberman.
He loved Europe and ended up staying for four years: two in England, and then two years working for French Vogue in Paris. During that period he developed a close friendship with French fashion photographer Guy Bourdin. Donald returned to the US and worked in New York for three years. He was a big music fan, with a strong sense of style, and that comes across strongly in the record sleeve portraits he took during this period for Riverside records, and which won him many awards.
He missed Europe, however, and decided to return with his family with London acting as a central base. He shot for fashion publications, newspapers, major advertising agencies. He kept esteemed company. A 1964 Daily Mirror article on Britain’s top photographers shows him alongside Bailey, Donovan and Duffy.
Donald opened a London studio on Riding House Street, just around the corner from Carnaby Street. He photographed the first Biba mail order catalogue, featuring model Madeleine Smith. The Silverstein family archive contains a beautiful portrait by Donald of Wallis Simpson, gloves off.
He was an award winning photographer, collecting over 50 professional awards in the course of his career. A medal in the 1968 Design and Art Directors awards for his photograph of a little boy with a bandaged eye (used in adverts for preventing accidents from fireworks), was followed by four medals in 1969 including an award (with Alan Aldridge) for the iconic 1968 poster image used for the London screening of Andy Warhol’s Chelsea Girls movie, which featured his photograph of a provocatively posed young model, now artist, Clare Shenstone.
He loved music and was thrilled to receive the Jimi Hendrix commission in 1967, creating what has become his most well known image, and one of the most important images of Jimi Hendrix. Donald led a vibrant life and he died too young in 1975.
