Benno Graziani: Memories of Summer

18 September - 10 October 2009

In 2009, Hamiltons presented, for the first time in the UK, Italian photographer Benno Graziani's iconic black and white and colour images from the legendary, glamorous glory-days of the rich and famous, spent on the French-Italian Riviera in the fifties, sixties and early seventies.

 

Graziani was friends with some of the biggest stars of his era, including Jackie Kennedy, who invited him on a holiday she took with her sister to Ravello Italy, in 1962. As one of her closest friends, having met as journalists whilst Jackie was working for The Washington Times Herald in the early 1950s, Graziani had the privilege of witnessing and documenting the Kennedy's lifestyle on an intimate level.

 

The exhibition also included similarly personal documentation between Graziani and a host of other stars including Kirk Douglas, Charlie Chaplin, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Brigitte Bardot, Princess Grace of Monaco and Ursula Andress amongst others.