Bob Colacello shot the likes of Cher and Andy Warhol at their least self-conscious

A new show in New York, entitled Pictures from Another Time: Photographs by Bob Colacello, 1976 - 82, presents photographs taken by Bob Colacello during the years he served as editor of Andy Warhol’s Interview Magazine.

Comprising around 150 images, the majority of which have been shown in public before, the exhibition looks to "reflect the societal fluidity and social mobility of 'the Me Decade', an era of emerging liberation movements in American culture," the gallery explains. "As both a favoured confidant and detached observer of some of the most significant figures of that time, from politicians, tycoons, and fellow journalists, to artists, writers, fashion designers, and movie stars, Colacello was uniquely positioned to create an enduring portrait of the Seventies."

The gallery adds: "Colacello’s images of the Seventies are situated at a cultural turning point when the private hours of public figures still hovered within a realm of mystique that seems distant in the internet age."

Colacello shot using a Minox 35 EL camera, the first miniature camera capable of making full frame 35-millimetre photographs—it was around the size of a packet of cigarettes, so perfectly discreet.

His knack for catching the usually-poised at their most relaxed is breathtaking; as he snaps the punters of iconic clubs like Studio 54 and Regine’s. The images are delightful in their sense of immediacy; this is people at their least self-conscious, which often means at their most fun.

Among the images in the show are those shots on a 1976 trip to Bonn, Germany, with Warhol and Fred Hughes, the artist’s business manager and eventual founder of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Warhol, who can be seen relaxing in his hotel room, was in the city to capture Polaroids of statesman and former German Chancellor Willy Brandt for a silkscreen portrait commissioned by his Social Democratic Party.

Pictures From Another Time: Photographs by Bob Colacello, 1976 - 1982 runs until 21 June at Vito Schnabel Projects, 43 Clarkson Street, New York City.