The Errant Æsthete

“My job is thick with risks, threats, occasional violence and sometimes the necessary folly that courts humiliation and ridicule. But I don’t care. I see myself as the Dean of American paparazzi.”

—Ron Galella

Ron Galella is in a category of his own — the paparazzo extraordinaire who totally redefined the genre by pursuing the rich, famous, and hounded. From his notoriously obsessive treatment of Jackie Onassis to his alarmingly beautiful photographs of celebrities in the 60s and 70s, Galella possessed the unique talent to catch stars at moments when they seemed most alive, most human, most vulnerable. Galella was able to do something no other celebrity watcher was able to do: become a star himself.

A collection of his work is currently on exhibit at Staley Wise in New York through June 7. Featured images: Jackie Onassis, Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, Catherine Denueve, Marlon Brando and Ron Galella, Andy Warhol and Sylvester Stallone