Ron Galella

The paparazzi photography of Ron Galella has been the subject of several monographs, but this is the first volume to focus on the city with which his work is most identified--New York, in the 1970s and 80s. The book contains many unpublished images from Galella’s archives of iconic celebrities of the day, such as Bianca Jagger, Madonna, Grace Jones, Halston and Al Pacino--out and about on the streets, at JFK airport or in hotel lobbies, enjoying the nightlife and theater culture of a grittier New York City. Journalist William Van Meter interviews Galella about specific images, providing captions that reveal previously untold anecdotes about Galella’s most legendary photographs.

Ron Galella (born 1931) is widely regarded as the most famous and most controversial celebrity photographer in the world. He has been dubbed "Paparazzo Extraordinaire" by Newsweek, and "the godfather of US paparazzi culture" by Time and Vanity Fair. Galella has endured two highly publicized court battles with Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, a broken jaw at the hands of Marlon Brando and a serious beating by Richard Burton’s bodyguards. His work has been exhibited at museums and galleries throughout the world. The Museum of Modern Art New York and San Francisco, the Tate Modern in London and the Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography in Berlin, among many others, all maintain collections of Galella’s photography. A native New Yorker now residing in Montville, New Jersey, Galella served as a United States Air Force photographer during the Korean conflict before attending the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, where he earned a degree in Photojournalism.

Ron Galella (born 1931) is the original paparazzi photographer-"the Godfather of the U.S. paparazzi culture," as Time magazine once dubbed him. Before Galella, celebrity photographs were tightly controlled by the Hollywood studio system and PR agencies; after him, shots of stars caught unawares, whether stumbling out of night clubs drunk or just shopping for groceries, became part and parcel of how we perceive the rich and famous. "My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous," Andy Warhol once said. "It's being in the right place at the wrong time. That's why my favorite photographer is Ron Galella." Some of Gallela's most famous photographs include covertly or spontaneously snatched portraits of Jacqueline Kennedy, Marlon Brando, Greta Garbo, Andy Warhol, Sean Penn, Robert Redford, Muhammad Ali, Madonna, Mick Jagger and Audrey Hepburn; often he has paid a high price for these photographs, having been assaulted (most famously by Marlon Brando) and taken to court (his pursuit of Jackie Kennedy was so obsessive and relentless that she took out a restraining order). Other celebrities, such as Warhol and Elizabeth Taylor, who used his photographs in her biography, have welcomed his attention. This volume presents more than 100 of his controversial photographs from the past half-century.

Now in Paperback Voyeur. Bandit. Hound. Ron Galella has been called every name in the book. In 1955, fresh out of the United States Air Force, he became a paparazzo--and redefined the genre. From his notoriously obsessive treatment of Jackie Onassis and the subsequent legal battles associated with it, to his alarmingly beautiful photographs of celebrities in the 60s and 70s, Galella has always been in a category of his own. Possessed of a unique talent to catch stars at moments when they seemed most alive, most human, most stylish, Galella was able to do something no other celebrity watcher was able to do: become a star himself. Featuring images of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, Marlon Brando, Ali McGraw, Farrah Fawcett, Robert Redford, Raquel Welch, Mick Jagger and many, many more of the rich, famous and hounded.

Voyeur, bandit, hound: Ron Galella has been called every name in the book. In 1955, fresh out of the United States Air Force, he became a paparazzo--and redefined the genre. From his notoriously obsessive treatment of Jackie Onassis and the subsequent legal battles associated with it, to his alarmingly beautiful photographs of celebrities in the 60s and 70s, Galella has always been in a category of his own. Possessed of a unique talent to catch stars at moments when they seemed most alive, most human, most stylish, Galella was able to do something no other celebrity watcher was able to do: become a star himself.