British icon David Bailey to be celebrated in Marta Ortega Foundation’s next exhibition

The Marta Ortega Pérez Foundation (MOP), led by the chair of fashion group Inditex, will dedicate its fifth exhibition to British photographer David Bailey. Known for capturing the spirit of London’s 1960s scene and its iconic figures, Bailey will be the focus of his first major retrospective in Spain. The exhibition will run from June 28 to September 14 at Muelle de Batería in A Coruña.

Titled “David Bailey’s Changing Fashion,” the exhibition will feature more than 140 photographs from the 1960s and 1970s, including several previously unseen works. The showcase will place special focus on “David Bailey’s Box of Pin-Ups,” a 1965 portfolio featuring images of 36 icons from London’s cultural scene at the time, ranging from Jean Shrimpton to Mick Jagger, Rudolf Nureyev, Michael Caine and Cecil Beaton.

The exhibition will also feature a curated selection of objects reflecting the essence of Bailey’s studio, along with a short film created exclusively for the event that reinterprets Bailey’s “Box of Pin-Ups.” A publication inspired by Ritz, the magazine Bailey co-founded with David Litchfield in 1976, will also be released.

“David Bailey is, without a doubt, the owner of a visual language that is entirely his own. From the very beginning, he remained true to his vision, breaking the rules of fashion and photography and creating new ones. No one moved more effortlessly through music, fashion and 1960s style. It is incredibly exciting to host a top-tier photography exhibition in our A Coruña space again. This show captures a fleeting golden era that completely changed the history of style, photography and culture,” said Marta Ortega Pérez, president of the foundation that bears her name and non-executive chair of Inditex.

Ahead of the David Bailey exhibition, the foundation’s space will host the group show “Future Stories,” featuring works by four emerging Galician photographers. In addition, the summer program will include a series of talks and conferences under the name “The MOP Talks.”

The MOP Foundation was launched in April 2022 as a private nonprofit entity that promotes and supports culture, art, and literature, focusing on audiovisual arts and photography. It also aims to raise international awareness of A Coruña, the birthplace of Inditex and the location of its headquarters in Arteixo.

Since its founding, the MOP Foundation has presented monographic exhibitions dedicated to Peter Lindbergh, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton and Irving Penn. David Bailey will join the list this summer.