David Hamilton

(British, 1933–2016)

David Hamilton was a British photographer and film director known for his nude photographs of adolescent girls. Often controversial, the images evoke an effect of dreaminess through soft focus and varied grain. Using a photographic technique akin to painting, he has acknowledged the influence of Lucas Cranach on his style. Born on April 15, 1933 in London, United Kingdom, the artist initially found work as an art director, then a commercial photographer in the 1950s and 60s in France. In 1979, his film Laura was released in France—the movie blends melodrama with soft-core pornography, as wells as Hamilton’s hallmark soft focus. He published numerous photobooks during his life, The Age of Innocence (1995) being one of his most popular. Similar to the work of Jock Sturges and Sally Mann, Hamilton’s erotic subject matter caused complaints of indecency over the decades. In 2016, the photographer was accused of rape by four separate women who had served as former models. In an apparent suicide, the photographer was found dead with a plastic bag over his head on November 25, 2016 in Paris, France.