The Music Photo Gallery · Represented Photographer

1 Works ·1973–1988 (music photography)

Chalkie Davies

B. b. 1955 · Welsh Photographer · NME, Punk & New Wave ·1973–1988 (music photography)

Portrait of the photographer

Biography

Chalkie Davies (b. 1955) is a Welsh photographer whose pictures helped define how a generation of musicians was seen in the 1970s and 1980s. He grew up in South Wales, where he first used his father's camera to photograph the steam locomotives at the Barry scrapyard.

His music photography began with David Bowie on the Ziggy Stardust tour, including the final night at the Hammersmith Odeon in July 1973. Working for the NME through the punk and new wave years, he photographed covers and features on The Clash, the Ramones, Debbie Harry, Ian Dury, Elton John and Elvis Costello, and became the tour photographer and close friend of Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy.

From the late 1970s, working with Carol Starr, he moved into the studio and into record sleeves: The Specials' first two albums, Elvis Costello's Trust sessions, Nick Lowe's 16 All Time Lowes and David Bowie's Absolute Beginners, the only record cover on which Bowie ever smiled. His portraits appeared in The Face, Rolling Stone and Time Out.

In 2015 the National Museum Wales, Cardiff, presented the retrospective Chalkie Davies: The NME Years, with 64 photographs seen by around 43,000 visitors. His work is held in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. He has lived and worked in New York for nearly four decades.

In the artist's
own words

"I collected Rock Stars like other people collected Stamps."

Chalkie Davies

A Young Morrissey, London, 1982

Chalkie Davies $0

Publications

Books

Monographs, catalogues and photography books from the archive.

Pointed Portraits

Chalkie Davies

Eel Pie Publishing · 1981

A collection of black-and-white music and portrait photography from the late 1970s and early 1980s, published in London.

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Chalkie Davies: The NME Years

Chalkie Davies; introduction by Jon Savage

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales · 2015

54-page exhibition catalogue with more than 40 photographic plates, published to accompany the National Museum Cardiff retrospective.

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Institutional Collections

Permanent Collections

Selected museums and institutions whose permanent collections include work by Chalkie Davies.

National Portrait Gallery
London, United Kingdom

Moving image & archive

Films, Interviews
& Television

Documentaries, recorded interviews and television appearances from the archive.

Chalkie Davies — Video 1

Video selected for the Chalkie Davies artist page. Title and production details pending verification.

Chalkie Davies — Video 2

Video selected for the Chalkie Davies artist page. Title and production details pending verification.

Chalkie Davies — Video 3

Video selected for the Chalkie Davies artist page. Title and production details pending verification.

Chalkie Davies — Video 4

Video selected for the Chalkie Davies artist page. Title and production details pending verification.

The Guardian

Chalkie Davies’s best photograph: the Specials in Paris

Jenny Stevens interviews the photographer about a 1980 portrait of Jerry Dammers and fans of The Specials.

The Guardian

Unseen Chalkie Davies photographs of 70s and 80s pop stars go on show

Steven Morris reports on the 2015 National Museum Cardiff retrospective, featuring 64 portraits from Davies's archive.

Museum Wales

Chalkie Davies the NME Years

Museum Wales introduces the exhibition catalogue, with more than 40 photographic plates and an introduction by Jon Savage.

Chalkie Davies

From the archive.