"My time begins with Jane," Andrew Birkin writes of his sister in his new photographic book Jane and Serge: A Family Album (published by Taschen). Birkin takes his audience for a trip down memory lane, remembering his actress sister Jane's wildly public love affair with singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg that lasted for a little over a decade. The couple met on set of the film Slogan in 1968 and were nearly-weds for 13 years, refusing to marry, yet giving birth to daughter Charlotte in 1971. Jane and Serge's relationship exuded romance and sexuality, particuarly after the release of the highly-controversial and erotic song Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus.
Andrew was always close to his sister, and as her relationship with Serge began to blossom, he became close with her lover, as well, sticking around and documenting countless personal moments. "[The book] was a chance to revisit all my old photos," Birkin tells The Daily Beast, "(that might otherwise have gone unseen even by me, as I'd forgotten most of them), wrap them up with a bow and give them to Jane, Kate and Charlotte." Despite Jane and Serge's separation in 1980, the two still remained friends, and maintained their status as the enviable couple that generations longed to become. "Our friendship went on until his dying day," Jane told The Daily Beast in 2011. "He rang me in London to say he bought me a big diamond because I had lost one that he’d given me. I said, 'Oh, stop drinking, Serge.' And a day later, on March 2, 1991, he was dead." With Serge's body, Jane buried her stuffed animal monkey. Andrew provides a rare look into Jane and Serge's eternal love.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
"Serge was the love of Jane's life, and when he died in 1991, her grief was agonising to behold," 1969.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
"For my part," Andrew writes, "it was love at first sight. Serge was so utterly different from anyone I'd ever met: shy and flamboyant by turns, with a boy-like lust for fun and a scabrous sense of humor," 1969.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
Serge, Jane, and friends, 1969.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
Jane and Charlotte, 1971.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
Serge on Compton Beach, 1971.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
"Jane was laughing at our dad, who'd come into the room dressed as Father Christmas," Andrew said of the photo taken at the family's cottage in the Isle of Wight in 1972.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
"Kate [indulges] Charlotte's passion for dressing up," 1977.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
Charlotte at Age Six, 1977.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
"Serge had a real talent as an artist, and [he] loved to sketch on those paper table mats in restaurants," Andrew said of the 1977 image from Trouville. "He has a sketch of me clenched in his teeth."
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
Serge in Jane’s Cheyne Row Home, 1978.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
"[This] was the melancholy day when Jane had to move out of 25 Cheyne Row, the house for which John Barry had given her a ten-year lease after their divorce in 1968."
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
Kate and Charlotte with Rabbits, 1979.
Andrew Birkin/Taschen
