Bob Colacello
Andy with Truman Capote, Southampton, 1979
Gelatin silver print
5 x 7 inches
© Bob Colacello; Courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery
Bob Colacello recorded the hedonism of the late seventies like no other in his pictures – though he wasn’t even a professional photographer. What is his secret?
It was matte black and barely bigger than a pack of cigarettes – the first mini camera that one could take photos with on 35 millimeter film. In his most glamorous times, Bob Colacello always wore his Minox in his jacket pocket, and he rarely missed an opportunity to use it. As the long- time editor-in-chief of the society magazine Interview, founded by Andy Warhol, he had access to domains that were reserved for the rich, the beautiful, and the powerful – from the VIP area of the famous disco “Studio 54” to the inauguration of US president Carter. Colacello never missed a party. He sat in the back of a limousine with Bianca Jagger, attended the actress Marisa Berenson’s wedding with Liza Minelli, and traveled to Europe for exhibition openings as Warhol’s close confidant, where he also met the former German Chancellor Willy Brandt.