Rex Features Press Release 22/04/04

REX FEATURES CELEBRATES 50TH ANNIVERSARY
PRIVATE PARTY - MAY 5TH
PARTY & PRESS VIEW - MAY 6TH

Rex Features, the UK’s largest independent photographic agency, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this May with the commissioning of a unique multi-screen installation, “THE WORLD ACCORDING TO REX”. After a launch party in London, the exhibition will go on tour as a 21st century showcase for a selection of striking images taken from Rex Features’ diverse archive of over 15 million pictures.

Designed by Antidote with Michaelides and Bednash, and constructed by Inflate, “THE WORLD ACCORDING TO REX” installation is a work of art in itself: a four-metres long and two-metres-high inflatable containing eight LCD screens which act as a mobile exhibition space.

The initial ‘exhibition’, “THE WORLD ACCORDING TO REX”, has been put together by the Rex team, using their in-depth knowledge and experience to compile themed selections of images which illustrate the unseen, unusual and unexpected, and which offer a taste of the distinctive character of the Rex picture service.

?THE WORLD ACCORDING TO REX? provides a pictorial narrative of worldwide events gathered over the past half a century, reflecting the humour, humanity, sympathy and insight for which Rex Features has rightly become renowned.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO REX - 50 YEARS OF REX FEATURES
PRIVATE PARTY: ? May 5th, 6 pm Delfina, London
PARTY & PRESS VIEW: ? May 6th, 6 pm Delfina, London
BAPLA PICTURE BUYERS? FAIR ? May 12-13th Islington Design Centre
ON TOUR: ? May - July Details to be announced

Founded by Frank and Elizabeth Selby in the front room of the family home, Rex Features has, over the last fifty years, grown to become one of the world’s largest independent photo agencies. With an ever-increasing archive of images, and in an everchanging and ever more competitive market, Rex has continued to expand while maintaining its individuality and its high level of service.

Both Frank and Elizabeth are from Hungarian roots, and journalism ran in both families - Frank’s father was editor-in-chief of Hungary’s leading newspaper group, while Elizabeth’s, Henry Guttmann, was a prominent journalist writing for German newspapers and magazines. Guttmann amassed a large collection of photographs, illustrations and engravings which was
acquired by Picture Post magazine to form the nucleus of its picture library. A subsequent collection forms part of the Rex Features picture library.

In late 1953 the couple were asked by a small Paris news agency to sell its pictures in the UK, and so Rex Features was born. Word of their efficient and reliable service quickly spread; by the early 1960s, Rex represented a growing roster of photographers, including the legendary showbiz photographer Dezo Hoffmann, and was providing a regular supply of features, news and celebrity pictures to the press in Britain and overseas.

The 1981 wedding of Charles and Diana saw Rex make a major breakthrough; its brilliantly coordinated coverage established the agency as a serious provider of deadline news and celebrity photography.

In the 1990s, as technological advances made the transfer of images faster and easier, the photographic industry became increasingly competitive, but Rex retained its independence while continuing to grow, and has consistently maintained an unparalleled reputation, among both clients and contributors, for a solid and friendly service.

In 2004 Rex is a market leader with offices in New York and Los Angeles, and represents such major picture sources as the leading society photographer Richard Young, the French agency Sipa Press, top US celebrity agencies Berliner Studios and Startraks, film stills archives The Everett Collection and Snap Photo Library, plus hundreds of freelance photographers and agencies around the world. Both Frank and Elizabeth Selby continue to work full time, alongside three of their children, at Rex.

Join Rex as the company celebrates the achievements of the past fifty years and looks forward to the next….