Dafydd Jones – författare

The legendary poet and boxer Arthur Cravan, a fleeting figure on the periphery of early twentieth-century European avant-gardism, is frequently invoked as proto-Dada and Surrealist exemplar. Yet he remains an insubstantial phenomenon, not seen since 1918, lost through historical interstices, clouded in drifting untruths. This study processes philosophical positions into a practical recovery – from nineteenth-century Nietzsche to twentieth-century Deleuze – with thoughts on subjectivity, metaphor, representation and multiplicity. From fresh readings and new approaches – of Cravan’s first published work as a manifesto of simulation; of contributors to his Paris review Maintenant as impostures for the Delaunays; and of the conjuring of Cravan in Picabia’s elegiac film Entr’acte – The fictions of Arthur Cravan concludes with the absent poet-boxer’s eventual casting off into a Surrealist legacy, and his becoming what metaphor is: a means to represent the world.

Dada formed in 1916, embedded in a world of rational appearances that belied a raging confusion – in the middle of the First World War, in the neutral centre of a warring continent, fundamentally at the heart of Western art. This book sets out new coordinates in revision of a formation that Western art history routinely exhausts through its characterisation as a ‘revolutionary movement’ of anarchic cultural dissent, and does so in order to contest the perpetuated assumptions about Dada that underlie the popular myth. Dada is difficult and the response to it is not easy, and what emerge from the theoretical readings developed here are profoundly rational bases to the Dada non-sense that pitted itself against its civilised age, critically and implicitly to propose that Dada courses as vitally today as it did in 1916.The Zurich Dada formation initiated deliberate and strategic cultural engagements that struggled then, as they do now, to cohere in any sense as a ‘movement’, extreme in their ranges as diametrically hostile oppositionalities. Dada may be given art historically as identifiable along a trajectory of sustained ruptures and seizures, but it confounds all attempts at defined or definitive readings. This book duly offers not a history of Dada in Zurich but theoretical engagements of the emergencies and now the residue of the years 1916–19 – from ‘lautgedichte’ to laughter, masks to manifestos, chance to chiasmata – rounding to the ‘permanent’ Dada by which the formation ultimately breaks the containment and deep peace of art historical chronology.

"I had access to what felt like a secret world. It was a subject that had been written about and dramatised but I don't think any photographers had ever tackled before. There was a change going on. Someone described it as a 'last hurrah' of the upper classes." - Dafydd JonesOxford University at the start of the eighties, rife with black ties and ballgowns. A change was on its way - best described by a newspaper as 'the Return of the Bright Young Things'.At this time, Oxford University was synonymous with the wealthy, the powerful and the privileged. Many of the young people in these pictures moved on to have careers in the establishment including Boris Johnson and David Cameron. In these photographs, however, their youth is undeniable: teenagers in full suits celebrate the rise of Thatcher in England and Reagan in America, in between punting on the river, chasing romance and partying through the night."It was Thatcher's Britain, a period of celebration for those that had money" - Dafydd JonesOxford: The Last Hurrah shows a world that has been written about and dramatised, yet never photographed. Affectionate and critical, it pokes affectionate fun at its subjects while celebrating English eccentricity. From the architectural marvels of the colleges to misty mornings along the river at dawn, this is Oxford at its most beautiful - and the students of the 1980s at their most raw and honest.

"...the panorama of a self-forgotten milieu."  — Monopol"Toffs behaving badly: 1980s high society in photos." — The Times“The pictorial equivalents of Evelyn Waugh’s sentences.” — The New Yorker"Modest though he is, Dafydd’s photographs will endure for having perfectly captured a society on the brink of decline. Unmissable listening." — Country & Townhouse podcast"Wonderfully ironic, every point in the picture ignites and knows how to entertain very well." — Lovely Books“Dafydd catches those moments of genuine exhilaration, wealth and youth.” — The Hollywood Reporter“I wondered if the party guests I’d photographed were just re-enacting a nostalgic fantasy, an imaginary version of England that already no longer existed.” – Dafydd JonesThroughout the 1980s, award-winning photographer Dafydd Jones was granted access to some of England’s most exclusive upper-class events. Now, the author of Oxford: The Last Hurrah presents this irreverent and intimate portrait of birthday parties and charity balls, Eton picnics and private school celebrations.With the crack of a hunting rifle and a spray of champagne, these photos give an almost cinematic account of high-society England at its most riotous and its most vulnerable. Against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain, globalisation, the Falklands War, rising stocks and dwindling inherited fortunes, Jones reveals the inner lives of the established elite as they party long into the night-time of their fading world.Praise for Oxford: The Last Hurrah‘Sublime vintage photographs...’ – Hermione Eyre, The Telegraph‘In The Last Hurrah...we see familiar faces from British high society poised on the brink of adulthood.’ – Eve Watling, Independent

"Turning the pages of this encyclopedia of golden parties, a nostalgia emanates from the clichés and plunges us into the evening of the stars at the Oscars..." — Harper's Bazaar France"With his new collection of photographs, Dafydd Jones offers a sensational dive into the excitement of the awards season in the 1990s." —  Vanity Fair France"... a rare collection of candid moments that reveal the deepest aspects of the personalities of the world's most famous people." — Vogue Greece"These images, taken before the turn of the century, give us a snapshot into the rise of America’s future movers and shakers, when mobile phones were in their infancy, Facebook had yet to be created, and the hit TV series Succession hadn’t even occurred to a twenty-something Jesse Armstrong." — The Independent"If you’re interested in celebrity culture, black & white, and of course any of the other work of Dafydd Jones, this comes highly recommended."— Amateur PhotographyHollywood: Confidential is the latest collection of beautifully timed photos from bestselling society photographer Dafydd Jones. Formerly of Tatler and Vanity Fair, Jones is a serial capturer of intimate moments during high-society functions. As famous Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter puts it, when it comes to party photographers, ‘Dafydd Jones is the sniper’s sniper – the best of the best.’On numerous occasions in the 1990s and 2000s, Jones turned his lens to the faces of Hollywood with all his usual impudence, as they mingled and danced at private events in the Hollywood Hills, Oscar-night parties and awards ceremonies. The result is a rare thing – photographs that convey the underlying personalities of the world’s most public personas.Following on from England: The Last Hurrah and New York: High Life / Low Life, this is an essential portrait of celebrity culture from behind the scenes, featuring the likes of Anna Nicole Smith, Tom Cruise, Prince, Winona Ryder, Tony Curtis, Oprah, Nicholas Cage and more.Praise for Dafydd Jones:"Dafydd catches those moments of genuine exhilaration, wealth and youth." – The Hollywood Reporter"Mr. Jones goes about his business with cheery zest and a wicked eye." – New York Times"Some carefully tended public images are punctured with such rapier precision that one can hear the hiss as they deflate." – Mitchell Owens, The World of Interiors"Sublime vintage photographs…"– Hermione Eyre, the Telegraph"Modest though he is, Dafydd’s photographs will endure for having perfectly captured a society on the brink of decline." – Country & Townhouse podcast"The New York book is an evocative historical document, brimming with nostalgia and menace." – Hannah Marriott, The Guardian"The best party photographers, and their numbers are few, are like snipers… Dafydd Jones is the sniper’s sniper – the best of the best." Graydon Carter, foreword from New York: High Life / Low Life"Dafydd’s brilliant evocation of a time and a class only seem more potent today, when we know that so many of the moneyed twits in his ’80s portfolio ended up running the country, as they always have" – Tina Brown, The New Yorker

Cambridge Balls is the sensational new book by bestselling society photographer Dafydd Jones. The Cambridge University colleges are renowned for many great alumni and important achievements… and also a series of marathon all-night parties, known as the May Balls, held annually to celebrate the end of the academic year. Dafydd Jones, who according to The New York Times, ‘goes about his business with cheery zest and a wicked eye’, has been granted unique access to this hidden world of revelry since 1981, during which the author of England: The Last Hurrah and Hollywood Confidential has captured an extraordinary tableau of antics and shenanigans now beautifully reproduced on these pages. From former British Prime Minister David Cameron in his Bullingdon coat to victorious rowing teams celebrating into the night, from gate crashers punting across the river to the more international student groups of modern times toasting their successes, this is a fascinating portrait of jubilation among the young, the wealthy and the academic elites of one of the world’s most famous universities. Praise for England: The Last Hurrah…“Wonderfully ironic, every point in the picture ignites and knows how to entertain very well.” — Lovely Books“Dafydd catches those moments of genuine exhilaration, wealth and youth.” — The Hollywood ReporterPraise for Hollywood Confidential…“With his new collection of photographs, Dafydd Jones offers a sensational dive into the excitement of the awards season in the 1990s.” — Vanity Fair FrancePraise for New York: High Life / Low Life…“The New York book is an evocative historical document, brimming with nostalgia and menace.” –– Hannah Marriott, The GuardianPraise for Dafydd Jones…“Modest though he is, Dafydd’s photographs will endure for having perfectly captured a society on the brink of decline.” –– Country & Townhouse podcast“Sublime vintage photographs…” –– Hermione Eyre, The Telegraph“Some carefully tended public images are punctured with such rapier precision that one can hear the hiss as they deflate.” –– Mitchell Owens, The World of Interiors

Dada formed in 1916, embedded in a world of rational appearances that belied a raging confusion – in the middle of the First World War, in the neutral centre of a warring continent, fundamentally at the heart of Western art. This book sets out new coordinates in revision of a formation that Western art history routinely exhausts through its characterisation as a ‘revolutionary movement’ of anarchic cultural dissent, and does so in order to contest the perpetuated assumptions about Dada that underlie the popular myth. Dada is difficult and the response to it is not easy, and what emerge from the theoretical readings developed here are profoundly rational bases to the Dada non-sense that pitted itself against its civilised age, critically and implicitly to propose that Dada courses as vitally today as it did in 1916.The Zurich Dada formation initiated deliberate and strategic cultural engagements that struggled then, as they do now, to cohere in any sense as a ‘movement’, extreme in their ranges as diametrically hostile oppositionalities. Dada may be given art historically as identifiable along a trajectory of sustained ruptures and seizures, but it confounds all attempts at defined or definitive readings. This book duly offers not a history of Dada in Zurich but theoretical engagements of the emergencies and now the residue of the years 1916–19 – from ‘lautgedichte’ to laughter, masks to manifestos, chance to chiasmata – rounding to the ‘permanent’ Dada by which the formation ultimately breaks the containment and deep peace of art historical chronology.